By Ronron
August 10, 2007
The three-day fighting in the southern island province of Sulu has already killed more than 50 people, including government soldiers, Moslem rebels, and a young boy, and wounded over 40 others, a military spokesman said Friday.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, the Public Information Officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), told a news conference at Camp Aguinaldo that the series of encounters began last Tuesday and the last one was late Thursday afternoon. A total of four incidents were recorded within the three-day period.
Bacarro said the highest number of casualties was during Thursday’s incident – an ambush in the morning at Indanan town, and a clash in the afternoon until the evening in Maimbung town.
He said 10 soldiers were killed and one was wounded in the ambush that was perpetrated allegedly by Abu Sayyaf bandits and renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The incident involved elements of the Philippine Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion on administrative and logistics mission. It happened at around 7:45 am at Barangay Duyuan in Indanan town.
The Army troopers lost nine M16 rifles in said encounter.
Bacarro said caught in the crossfire was a nine-year-old boy, who died due to gunshot wounds.
Bacarro said that pursuit operations against the perpetrators later resulted in an encounter at 3:20 pm in Barangay Tambaking in Maimbung when members of the same battalion caught up with some 120 members of the ASG and the MNLF-Misuari Breakaway Group (MBG).
The firefight lasted until past 7pm, said Bacarro.
The clash left 15 soldiers killed and nine wounded, while the rebel group reportedly suffered 27 fatalities and 25 wounded members, based on intelligence information, said Bacarro. However, only one killed rebel, identified as Salip Edimar, was recovered.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. said Edimar is a close-in security of ASG leader Radullan Sahiron.
The military is verifying intelligence reports that a son of ASG leader Dr. Abu was among the slain rebels.
Bacarro and Torres said the ASG rebels who were involved in Thursday’s incidents were led by the ASG top leaders – Sahiron, Dr. Abu and Albader Parad.
Bacarro said the first encounter happened Tuesday at around 4:25pm also in Indanan, involving the Special Operations Platoon 5 and 11 of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC), and more or less 50 ASG rebels.
Two Marines soldiers were wounded in said incident.
The second clash happened Wednesday at around 6:30 in the morning, involving the Alpha Company of the 33rd IB and some 40 to 50 ASG rebels.
The 30-minute firefight took place at Barangay Lanao Dakula in Parang town, killing one soldier and four rebels, and wounding five soldiers.
“We are now verifying reports that out of the four ASG members that were killed during the said encounter, two are considered to be high-value targets. They are sub-commanders of the Abu Sayyaf Group,” said Bacarro.
Bacarro said out of the four operations, three were initiated by the government forces who are part of the military’s Task Force Comet.
He said this has nothing to do with the operations in Basilan against those who are believed responsible for the death of 14 soldiers during the July 10 clash in Al-Barka.
“Our effort against the Abu Sayyaf has been all out always because they are terrorists,” Bacarro said. “At this point, we don’t want to relate what happened to Basilan with what happened in Sulu because we are definite that those we encountered in Sulu are ASG members.”
He said the operations are part of the military’s Operation Plan (Oplan) Ultimatum II, launched last August 2. It can be recalled that the AFP’s Oplan Ultimatum I, launched in August last year, was credited for the neutralization of ASG top leaders Khadaffy Janjalani and Jainal Antel Sali, alias Abu Solaiman.
In a phone interview later in the day, AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said he is saddened by the heavy casualties but this would not dishearten him.
“I’m very sad about it. It brings me memories of one of the encounters I had when I was a lieutenant when we had similar number of casualties but I’m not disheartened. I’m even proud of the soldiers because they are on the offensive, despite of the hardships,” Esperon said.
He said he thinks this is the biggest single casualty in the day in recent years, the President has even expressed concern about it and it prompted him to visit the troops there and in Sulu this Monday.
“We will not stop here. We will go after them… We will not give up,” Esperon said.
He said having heavy casualties is part of war, and losing soldiers’ lives is part of his job.
“We want to go after them even at the expense of the lives of our soldiers because that is our duty,” the military chief said.
Expecting of an impending fierce fighting in Sulu following the last fightings, Esperon said more troops will be poured in the province in the coming days.
Bacarro said two additional Army battalions will be sent to Sulu, bringing to eight battalions in all the forces there – four from the Marines and four from the Army.
According to the Social Welfare office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), more than 4,000 people were already displaced from the two towns in Sulu – Indanan and Parang.
The evacuees comprise of 775 families or 4,282 persons from one barangay in Indanan and four barangays in Parang.
Some of them are staying at the Palan Elementary School in Indanan, which was converted into an evacuation center, while the rest are staying at their relatives.
Office of Civil Defense Regional Director for ARMM Atelano Adi said 5,000 sacks of rice are ready for distribution to Sulu for the evacuees.
Bacarro said the operations is expected to go full swing in Sulu now that the military already knows the location of the rebels./DMS
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