By Ronron
July 11, 2007
The death toll on the government side in the clash Tuesday in Basilan province rose to 14 yesterday (Wednesday) as the missing soldiers were found and all accounted for during clearing operations at the encounter site in Al-Barka town (not Tipo-tipo as earlier reported).
At the same time, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership said it was its forces, not the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), who clashed with the elements of the 1st Marine Brigade that had just conducted search operations for abducted Italian priest Fr. Gian Carlo Bossi.
MILF chief peace negotiator and public information officer Mohagher Iqbal said in a phone interview yesterday that their members were fired upon by the government troops at around 10am the other day in Barangay Guinanta in Al-Barka, prompting them to fire back.
“There was no Abu Sayyaf there. They were all MILF fighters. The soldiers entered our territory without coordination with the MILF CCCH (Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities), that’s why there was an encounter,” Iqbal said.
But the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) maintains there were ASG rebels in the clash, based on the initial reports they received from the field.
“It is our humble contribution on the effort to locate physically Fr. Bossi so that he may eventually be rescued in a pursuing operation supposedly. But, in the process, our troops were waylaid,” said PMC spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan in a news conference yesterday afternoon at Camp Aguinaldo.
“The attackers are composed of Abu Sayyaf Group members and some lawless armed group elements in the local area,” he added.
The attack and encounter, which happened from 10 am until 7pm, happened exactly a month after Bossi was snatched by 10 armed men in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay. Right after the incident, the military was quick to attribute the crime to renegade members of the MILF.
But the secessionist group belied the allegation and pointed instead at the ASG. Recently, the ASG theory was supported by no less than National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.
An official of the GRP-MILF Adhoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), who requested anonymity, said, however, that it is very likely MILF men were holding Bossi.
Told about Iqbal’s claim, 1st Marine Brigade Commander Col. Ramiro Alivio said in a phone interview yesterday: “We were trying to verify the presence of the lawless elements holding Fr. Bossi. So, imagine us coordinating that operation with them?”
“Besides, that is not their camp. It was an expanse of bushes, a thickly-forested area. So they cannot claim it as their territory,” he added.
The Marine troops, numbering about a hundred (not 50 as earlier reported), had just come from an area in Barangay Guinanta and its neighboring villages in search for Bossi when ambushed, said Alivio.
The troops were aboard an M35 truck, and two dump trucks, and were heading to their base near Lamitan town.
While traversing a rough road still in Barangay Guinanta, one of the trucks got stuck in the mud, forcing the troops to make a stop in what is known as a “killing zone.”
That was when the more or less 300 armed elements, carrying M16’s, M14’s, machine guns, and 81 mm mortars, attacked.
Alivio said the Marine troopers, despite not prepared for combat, retaliated, causing the firefight to drag on until Tuesday night.
Caculitan said reinforcement troops from the 1st Marine Brigade failed to penetrate the area to help their fellow soldiers because of the large size of the lawless elements.
Two soldiers died on the spot, while two others were declared dead on arrival at a hospital. Nine others and an assistant cameraman of a GMA 7 news team were wounded.
Ten other soldiers were initially missing but were discovered on Wednesday morning dead already, beheaded. Their firearms were already gone.
Two of the trucks were also found burned already, Alivio said.
Alivio and Caculitan said the government troops inflicted casualties on their enemy but could not say how many as no bodies were recovered.
Alivio said the government and the MILF CCCH arrived at the area yesterday, ordering a ceasefire. The action, however, effectively, prevented the government troops from pursuing the perpetrators, he said.
Iqbal said if only there was proper coordination with the MILF, the encounter would have been prevented. Because of the incident, Iqbal said they will file a protest against the Marines before the GRP-MILF CCCH over said incident.
Told about the MILF’s claim, Caculitan said: “If there would have been participation of some MILF members, then we would bring the matter to the ceasefire committee.”
The government and the MILF forged an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in June 2001 as part of measures in arriving at a final peace accord. The peace talks hit a snag last year after both parties failed to agree on the ancestral domain issue.
Asked if the MILF soldiers therefore beheaded the Marine soldiers following his admission that no other lawless groups participated in the clash, Iqbal said: “We are investigating that. Pending the investigation, we do not really know… But what is important is the MILF strictly tells our forces not to commit that kind of atrocity… because that is against Islam.”
The last beheading in the south happened in April when ASG rebels cut the head of their seven kidnap victims after their ransom demand was not granted by the government. The victims were working for a road project in Sulu.
Still convinced that the armed elements were mainly ASG rebels, Caculitan said of the beheading: “This shows how barbaric the Abu Sayyaf is. Whenever they have the chance, they will decapitate their victims.”
Caculitan said the Marines may have failed to locate Bossi, and may have suffered heavy casualties in Tuesday’s clash, but their operations will go on.
“The Philippine Marine Corps is always supportive to the thrusts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. So we are trying our best to give our humble contribution in the search for Fr. Bossi. And that will remain even if these things will happen,” Caculitan said.
Alivio said their efforts to look for Bossi in Basilan have begun in June 17, or seven days since the abduction happened, after receiving reports that the 57-year-old priest was taken their by his captors./DMS
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