By Ronron
August 19, 2007
Fifteen Marine soldiers and 42 Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) rebels died in an encounter last Saturday in Basilan province as government troopers continued to search for Moslem rebels suspected to be responsible for the death of 14 Marine soldiers last July 10 in Al-Barka town, military officials said.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief information officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said over the weekend that seven other soldiers were also wounded in the firefight that began at 6:25 am at Sitio Kurelem, Barangay Selangkum in Ungkaya Pukan town, while a pilot officer died after the plane he was commanding to provide close air support to the engage Marine troopers crashed later in the day.
“The firefight ensued inside an ASG camp,” Bacarro told reporters in a text message Saturday afternoon.
Officials said there were 70 to 80 rebels in said camp headed by Furuji Indama and his brother Umair Indama, alias Abu Jihad, both suspected to be involved in the beheading of 10 Marine soldiers last July 10.
Bacarro said the two Indama’s were confirmed dead and were among the seven dead ASG rebels recovered by the government troops when the heavy fighting stopped at past 2pm. Another dead rebel was identified as a certain Barad, Bacarro said.
Recovered from them were several firearms and personal belongings.
Asked how did the military confirm Furuji Indama’s identity, Bacarro said: “The report I received is that the cellphone of Furuji Indama was recovered… but I don’t want to discuss details of that.”
Furuji was among those charged by the Philippine National Police (PNP) with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder over the July 10 incident, while Umair was one of the four ASG rebels positively identified by a witness as one of the beheaders of the Marine soldiers.
Bacarro clarified that no Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was involved in the fighting.
“The MILF are apparently listening to the advise of the CCCH (Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities of the government and the MILF) to confine themselves in specific areas in Basilan,” AFP Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said yesterday in a television interview.
Bacarro said elements of the 64 Force Reconnaissance Company and Force Reconnaissance Class 13 of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) were on a mission to locate the suspects behind the July 10 mutilation of their fellow soldiers when they sighted the camp of the ASG on Friday evening.
He said the camp was fortified with bunkers and snipers were posted on strategic areas, that was why the Marines waited for the sun to rise before striking.
“In the face of danger, and in the face of death, our Marines really showed their bravery. They did not waiver. What is at the back of their mind is mission accomplishment. It is so difficult if you attack what is on defensive position,” Bacarro said in Filipino in a radio interview yesterday.
Among those killed on the government side were five junior officers, officials said.
The dead bodies of the soldiers and those wounded were immediately brought to the Westmincom headquarters in Zamboanga City, where the latter were given medical treatment.
Cedo said the bodies of the killed soldiers who are from Luzon will be flown to Manila most likely today (Monday) while those from the rest of the country will be ferried to their respective home provinces.
Officials said an MG520 attack helicopter, which was among those providing close air support to the engaged Marine troopers, crashed past 4pm at Bubuan Island in nearby Sumisip town due to alleged engine trouble.
Philippine Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Epifanio Panzo, Jr. said the co-pilot died while the main pilot survived, although hurt.
“That aircraft has been flying the whole day, and there was an engine trouble. According to the findings, it encountered an engine quit. So, it was not an enemy fire that brought her down, it was engine trouble,” Cedo said.
Panzo said the chopper came from Zamboanga City.
Despite the heavy casualties it has been suffering, the Armed Forces maintain that it is on the upper hand in the ongoing battle in Basilan. Following the July 10 clash in Al-Barka where 14 soldiers were killed and nine were injured, a three-day firefight in Sulu from August 7 resulted also in the deaths of 27 soldiers and the wounding of 16 others.
Bacarro said even the morale of the soldiers, especially the Marines, according to ground commanders, remains high.
“The directive of the Chief of Staff (Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.) is to continue running after the said group (of the ASG)… We will take this momentum to locate them and the objective is to engage them,” Bacarro said.
Cedo said it is believed that the surviving ASG rebels “scampered in the lower portion of Basilan,” particularly in the towns of Ungkaya Pukan, Al-Barka and Tipo-tipo.
He expressed confidence that the current strength of seven battalions on Basilan island is “more than enough” to secure the province.
“Gen. Cedo and (Brig.) Gen. (Juancho) Sabban (the deputy Western Mindanao command and concurrent Task Force Thunder commander) are concentrating the joint operations in Basilan to really fix the enemy and to destroy them… We will push, we will continue the operations with the end state of destroying the Abu Sayyaf,” Bacarro said.
According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), 1,791 families or 11,887 persons from 15 barangays in Al-Barka, Tipo-tipo, Sumisip and Ungakay Pukan remain displaced as of Sunday due to the ongoing fighting.
“The situation in Basilan remains critical due to ongoing AFP offensives against the ASG in the boundary of Tipo-tipo, Sumisip and Ungkaya Pukan,” the NDCC report yesterday, signed by its spokesman, Dr. Anthony Golez, said.
It said that at 6:30 am, the military bombarded suspected ASG positions in those municipalities using 105mm howitzers. Bacarro could not immediately confirm the report.
Meanwhile, in the southern island province of Sulu, the NDCC said there are still 2,775 families or 12,072 persons displaced from 25 barangays in Indanan, Parang and Maimbung towns. Some of them are staying in five evacuation centers, the report said.
“The situation in Sulu remains very fluid as the AFP continues to recon suspected ASG positions in Indanan, Parang, and Maimbung,” the report said./DMS
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