Fighting broke out on Thursday between an armed group loyal to the Ampatuan clan and Moro secessionist rebels in Maguindanao just as security forces were about to start the crackdown on 68 identified private armed groups across the country, police said Friday.

Senior Supt. Alex Lineses, acting commander of the Maguindanao police, said the gunbattle between the group of Datu Saudi Ampatuan Councilor Tamano Mamalapat and Moro Islamic Front (MILF) rebels headed by commanders Mando and Castro erupted at around 5 a.m. Thursday in Barangay Kitapok, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.

“Based on our monitoring as of yesterday (Thursday), there were no reported casualties on both sides,” said Lineses in a phone interview.

But a military official claimed to have received reports of casualties on both sides.

“Undetermined dead and wounded had been reported,” Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said in a text message.

Cabangbang said the Moro rebels instigated the attack by staging an ambush on the group of Mamalapat, who happened to be a cousin of the MILF’s 106th Base Command commander Datu Mama.

“Tamano is also said to be a leader of a private armed group associated with the Ampatuans,” said Cabangbang.

“Rido (clan war) is said to be the motive of the incident since it was alleged that Tamano's group had been harassing Mando and Castro's group since 2003,” he added.

Lineses, for his part, said they are still conducting investigation to confirm initial reports that the two groups burned some houses in the area.

On Thursday, police and military officials identified a total of 68 armed groups which they verified to be serving as goons of politicians, most of them in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

General Victor Ibrado, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief, said the police and the military initially have different numbers of partisan armed groups (PAGs) operating in the country but said they came up with a final list during a joint meeting with the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Elections in Camp Crame on Thursday.

“We have verified the number and the final list is that there are 43 private armed groups across the country and another 25 in ARMM area alone,” said Ibrado in an interview.

Ibrado said a total of 102 other PAGS have yet to be validated, 77 of them reportedly existing in ARMM which is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Lanao del Sur.

“The 102 figure is still subject for validation,” said Ibrado.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, PNP chief, said the monitoring conducted by the police’s Intelligence Group resulted in the inclusion of 558 cities and municipalities in the list of election hot spots.

Of the figure, Verzosa said a total of 118 are in the ARMM area alone while 440 other are located across the country.