27 HEROES WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN :-( Pls.offer a little prayer for them. COTABATO CITY, Philippines — At least 30 members of the Philippine National Police elite Special Action Forces who were out to arrest suspected terrorists, and five fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, were killed in a clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, Sunday, after the cops entered an MILF base allegedly in violation of the ceasefire agreement, two rebel officials said on Sunday. Von Al Haq, vice chair for military affairs of the MILF, said the PNP SAF did not properly coordinate with the MILF when they set out to serve warrants of arrest for Malaysian bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir, known by the military and police as “Marwan,” in Barangay Tukanalipao. (The coordination is required under the ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the Philippine government, which recently signed a peace agreement.) Al Haq said the policemen ended up clashing with the MILF men and the BIFF under Commander Guiawan in Barangay (village) Tukanalipao. “They were also after Basit Usman,” he added. Usman is a Jemaah Islamiyah bomb making expert. “They were trapped and may have run out of bullets during a fierce firefight,” a police source said. The source claimed that “Marwan” was also killed along with several BIFF members. (This has not been confirmed by the police or the military.) “The SAF intruded and clashed with the 105th Base Command resulting in at least 30 casualties,” Al Haq said. The MILF suffered five casualties, he added. “The Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities facilitated the request of the PNP to retrieve their casualties but unfortunately many were not able to survive because they were not evacuated immediately. Hopefully, all bodies will be retrieved,” Al Haq said. Al Haq divulged that the SAF men who participated in the operation were not originally assigned in the area and were from General Santos City. “They were all new to the area and know little about it,” Al Haq said. He said it was possible that the PNP unit bypassed the Armed Forces of the Philippines and MILF because of the $5-million bounty for the capture of the target. “This should be a lesson to everybody not to ignore the ceasefire mechanism and to understand more the ongoing peace process,” Al Haq said. Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, explained how MILF troops got involved in the bloody clash in Mamasapano. “The clash was triggered by no coordination in the police operation,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone. “SAF first attacked an area where there were terrorists, they also attacked our position, that’s how our troops were dragged into the encounter,” he said. “By accident, they clashed with our troops in village of Tukanalipao,” he added. Mayor Benzar Ampatuan of Mamasapano said he was awakened by a series of gun fire Sunday. “Two civilians were confirmed wounded, we are helping to evacuate the civilians nearby because the conflict might escalate,” Ampatuan said in a phone interview. Another report said three civilians were killed, two females and a male. Abu Misri Mama has another version. He said the police elite forces were there to serve a warrant of arrest for Basit Usman but they instead raided the house of Ustadz Manan, a sub-commander of the MILF 105th base commander under Commander Zacaria Goma. “When the shooting war started, we noticed the police were coming on to our position so we surrounded them and engaged them for several hours in Barangay Manggapang, Mamasapano,” Mama told the Inquirer in the vernacular. “As of 6 p.m., we are still surrounding police in Barangay Manggagapang and anytime we will strike,” he said when interviewed by the Inquirer. In an earlier interview after news of the conflict first broke out, Mama claimed that the firefight started after the SAF allegedly tried to search for suspected Jemaah Islamiyah bomber Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, and clashed with the MILF’s 105th Base Command. Marwan’s capture carries a $5-million bounty for his terror attacks, which have also earned him a spot in the most wanted terror list of the FBI. Mama added that the BIFF’s 1st Brigade intercepted the reinforcement from the military at around 9 a.m. The BIFF recovered at least 10 rifles, Mama claimed. “We were shocked when the SAF attacked the 105th Base Command of the MILF because there is an ongoing peace talks with the government,” Mama commented. “The firefight has already died down but the SAF and the military are already surrounded by the MILF and the BIFF,” Mama said. Colonel Gener del Rosario, chief of 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, said they have been on standby. “We have no communication line with the SAF in the area where the SAF men were located, Del Rosario said. The police did not coordinate with us.” Armored vehicles lined-up portions of Shariff Aguak and the roads leading to Mamasapano town. Civilians have been fleeing for fear of a bigger war, Mayor Ampatuan said. Capt. Joanne Petinglay, chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division public affairs unit, denied the claims of Mama, asserting that they have not yet received any reports of fire fights involving the military. “Possibly, the group that the BIFF clashed with is the SAF,” Petinglay said. Petinglay said the military has been conducting clearing operations in Mamasapano town where policemen were killed in a clash with BIFF and other lawless elements. Petinglay could not say how many policemen were killed but said Army backed by armored personnel carrier were in the area to assist police in Maguindanao. “As of now I cannot give exact number of fatalities, it was a police operation, there was no coordination with our troops on the ground,” Petinglay told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Al Haq said eight SAF and members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group were captured by the BIFF. He said the MILF troops on the ground have been helping the Army through the joint government and MILF coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities. “We are still verifying the casualty figure, what we are doing is we assist the police in extracting the fatalities,” Petinglay said. Petinglay said the SAF came to Mamasapano for a “law enforcement operation against a most wanted man, a high value target, a Jemaah Islamiya member.” Roads leading to Mamasapano from Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao were closed and reporters were barred from entering the encounter site, which is about 15 kilometers from the national highway linking Isulan in Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City passing by Maguindanao. Petinglay said elements of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade were still in the area, as of Sunday evening. Originally posted at 6:51 PM|Sunday, January 25, 2015 Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/667844/at-least-27-elite-cops-killed-in-clash-with-biff-in-maguindanao-reports#ixzz3PqHQHBwQ Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:12:46 +0000
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