The conflict erupted on Wednesday between the two commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a village in Pagalungan town, located in Maguindanao del Sur province. However, a truce has since been established by the military, police, and leaders of the rebel front.

Axar.az reports that, citing Associated Press, the violence was triggered by a long-standing land dispute between the clans of the two commanders and was not directly connected to the Muslim insurgency.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was the largest Muslim separatist armed group in the southern Philippines, the homeland of minority Muslims in a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, until it signed a peace agreement with the government in 2014. As part of the deal, the group abandoned its separatist aspirations in exchange for the establishment of a better-funded Muslim autonomous region known as Bangsamoro in the troubled south.

The six-province Muslim region is currently governed by former rebel leaders under a transitional arrangement leading up to regular elections scheduled for May next year.