The death toll from Sunday’s fighting between the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) and Muslim rebels has already reached 55, government security officials said on Monday.
A police report from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) said at least 49 SAF members were killed following the clash between policemen and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The bodies of those killed were already taken to the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division. Government security officials said the casualties could still increase as evacuation is ongoing.
“As of now there are no skirmishes happening in the ground and our effort to extricate all the casualties is ongoing and we have also facilitated the entry of the international monitoring team so that the parties involved in the recent clash will be separated from each other,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc.
The dead and wounded policemen were airlifted by American troops and aircraft. Two of the policemen killed reportedly held the rank of senior inspector.
Six members of the MILF were also reportedly killed, including Abdul bin Hir alis Marwan, a Malaysian bomb expert and a leader of the Asean terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), who was the subject of the police operations.
Marwan is believed to have been killed by the military in Sulu in February 2012. The US government had offered a reward of $5 million for his head. Policemen were serving the warrant of arrest for Marven and for JI-trained bomb
expert, Bassit Usman, at Barangay Tukalanipao in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on Sunday morning when they clashed with members of the MILF, who were later aided by the BIFF.
A source said the policemen were already pulling out from the area when they were mowed down by Muslim rebels. The two Moro groups also ambushed the reinforcements for the beleaguered SAF contingent.
Some police officials could not hide their disappointment with the military for not assisting the cornered SAF pesonnel and for “allowing policemen, their own to be massacred by the MILF.” MILF officials blamed the policemen for not coordinating with the group prior to serving the arrest warrant to Marwan. The town of Mamasapano is considered a lair of the MILF which signed a peace agreement with the government in March 2014.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II ordered all police stations and camps around the country to hoist the national flag at half-mast. Roxas and PNP Officer in Charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina led policemen at the national headquarters at Camp Crame in saluting the dead policemen on Monday before they flew to Maguindanao to personally check on developments in the area.
Government security officials could not provide more details about the clash. Espina, however, said that the SAF personnel were running after a “high-value” terrorist who is behind the bombings in central Mindanao.
Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, head of the government’s peace panel, admitted that despite the immediate declaration of a cease-fire following the encounter between the PNP and the MILF, other armed groups are still engaged in “intermittent fighting” with government forces deployed in Mindanao.
“We laud the quick action of our mechanisms and their courage in immediately going to the conflict site. As soon as our cease-fire teams learned of the hostilities, they immediately effected a cease-fire,” Coronel-Ferrer said. “We regret, however, that due to the involvement of other armed groups, some intermittent fighting continued.”
She confirmed initial reports that members of the PNP-SAF were conducting law-enforcement operations in the area to serve a warrant against Marwan.
Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said latest reports reaching Malacañang indicate that “there is a high likelihood that Marwan has been neutralized.” “We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the tragic encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao yesterday, January 25,” Colonel-Ferrer said.
Colonel-Ferrer acknowledged that the latest encounter and other recent acts of violence by other armed groups manifest the diverse security challenges that confound the peace process.
“But our resolve to see through the process of legislating the Bangsamoro basic law [BBL] and implementing the different normalization programs, including the security components, is only further strengthened,” she said. “With better cooperation we will be able to prevent these kinds of incidents.” Following the bloodbath in Maguindanao, the House of Representatives on Monday adopted a resolution suspending its discussions on the defense, security and public order provisions of the proposed BBL until the submission of reports on the recent incidents of violence in the Armm.
By Rene Acosta & Butch Fernandez
With reports from Jovee Marie Dela Cruz and Recto Mercene
1 comment
This clash between the PNP and the MILF indicates the BBL should be stopped.