CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines—At least seven people are dead in
the Philippines after two families locked in a longstanding feud
battled each other with guns, police said.  Such violent clan
conflicts, known as "rido," have long complicated security
worries in the country's south, which is already mired in
decades-long Muslim rebellions. Many of the clan clashes are
over political power, land, business and past grudges in far-
flung communities awash with guns and burdened by weak law
enforcement.  Armed members and followers of the Macugar and
Capal families confronted each other late Friday in a village of
Bayang town in Lanao del Sur province, sparking a gunbattle that
left seven people dead and five others wounded, police officer
Ansari Musa said by telephone.