Sulu encounter leaves five Marines and six MNLF members killed – military commander

By Ronron
November 30, 2007

Five Marine soldiers and six rouge members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) died in an encounter early Friday morning in Sulu province, a military commander in the area said.

Col. Cesario Atienza, commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade, told Defense reporters in a phone interview that four Marine soldiers and two rouge MNLF fighters were also hurt during the series of clashes that happened in Kalingalan Caluang town.

Atienza said the first encounter happened at Sitio Kupong, Barangay Pangdan Pangdan at around 5:20 am.

He said joint elements of the 3rd and 11th Marine Battalion Landing Teams (MBLT) were on combat operations to hunt for Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members when they encountered 30 to 50 armed men.

The armed men are believed to be composed of ASG members and rouge MNLF fighters under the command of Ustadz Habier Malik, a renegade MNLF commander who has a bounty of P1 million for his arrest or neutralization.

Atienza said the firefight lasted for several minutes, leaving four Marines soldiers hurt and two rebels killed.

As the rebels were withdrawing, Atienza said a reinforcement team from the same Marine units encountered them at around 5:40 am at Barangay Kambing of the same town, or some two to three kilometers away from the first clash site.

Western Mindanao Command spokesman Army Captain Rommel Miguel said the ground troops were augmented by two MG-520 gun ships to conduct close air support, while Naval vessels sealed off the coastal lanes and surrounding waters.

Several minutes of firefight left five foot Marine soldiers and four bandits killed. Two other soldiers and several bandits were hurt.

Atienza said they have intelligence reports that among the wounded was Malik. Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Jonas Lumawag, meanwhile, identified the others as Commander Tayib, Commander Sis Bairulla, and Commander Rainjo.

Some of the killed bandits, meanwhile, were identified by Lumawag as Albada Bairula, alais Comander Tsadang; Hassim Ibba; and, Bamher Abdulhalik.

Lumawag said the Marine troopers recovered the following from the encounter site: 500 rounds for M14; 200 rounds for M60 long machine gun; 28 rounds for 50 caliber machine gun; three rounds of 60 mm mortar; four rounds for M203 grenade launcher; 400 rounds for Galil Rifle; one Galil rifle with scope; one M16 with M203, and two ICOM arial antenna.

Miguel said the wounded Marines were immediately evacuated to Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City for medical treatment.

Malik was hunted early this year after making unprovoked attacks in Panamao town that left several casualties. Much earlier, in February, he hostaged Marine Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino and other government officials in the MNLF camp in Bitan-ag Complex in said town as he complained over the non-compliance allegedly of the government in its commitment under the 1996 GRP-MNLF peace agreement./DMS