Basilan clash: 5 Marines killed

Five soldiers were killed and 25 others, including a pilot, were wounded in running battles with combined Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants in Al-Barka, Basilan, the military said yesterday.

Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino claimed 50 rebels were killed in the operation to flush out Abu Sayyaf bandits who had kidnapped social workers Milet Mendoza and Esperanza Hupida last September. But the MILF confirmed only three deaths.

Capt. Francis Vergara of the 3rd Air Division was among the wounded soldiers during the clash over the weekend.

Vergara was hit by ground fire while providing close air support with an OV10 Bronco light bomber plane. His co-pilot was able to fly the plane back to Zamboanga and brought him to a hospital for immediate treatment, along with the 11 wounded troops.

Meanwhile, in Sulu, five Abu Sayyaf bandits and a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant were killed by troops in Patikul.

The military’s anti-terror Task Force Comet chief Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban said an undetermined number of bandits and JI militants were also wounded in the assault on the suspected hideout of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron in Barangay Bubunga on Sunday.

Sabban said more than 10 were critically wounded, at least two of them identified as active members of the al-Qaeda-linked regional terrorist network.

He said the bodies of the slain and wounded terrorists were dragged away by their fleeing comrades during the assault.

In Basilan, Dolorfino said troops were running after the group of Abu Sayyaf leaders Furuji Indama and Nurhasan Jamiri, believed to have masterminded the kidnapping of Mendoza and Hupida, who were released last month purportedly upon payment of ransom.

He said the MILF, which has a camp in Al-Barka, might have reinforced the Abu Sayyaf bandits that led to the skirmishes.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied their involvement in the kidnappings or that they were sheltering Abu Sayyaf militants.

Kabalu accused the military of attacking the MILF camp in Al-Barka.

“The military operation is intended to (target) the MILF in Basilan and we will fight it to defend ourselves,” Kabalu said.

Kabalu said three MILF rebels were killed and six wounded. The dead included Sattar Alih, a senior member of the rebel group’s peace negotiating panel with government.

Peace talks with the MILF were suspended following the attacks, which came after the Supreme Court blocked a deal that would have given the rebels control over an expanded autonomous region.

Dolorfino said intercepted intelligence from the rebels indicated at least 50 guerrillas were killed but no bodies were recovered.

He said the objective of the military operation was to occupy high ground in Al-Barka and cut off the escape route of the Abu Sayyaf.

Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesperson Lt. Steffani Cacho said the MILF, under Alih, and the Abu Sayyaf militants led by Indama joined forces and attacked the 8th Marine Battalion landing Team (MBLT) who were deployed to augment the troops in the area.

Cacho said the troops occupied a hill in Bohe Lebong, Al-Barka, believing that the Abu Sayyaf and MILF were using the area in their criminal operations.

“It seems our assessment was right. While the troops were clearing the area, they were attacked by an undetermined number of the Abu Sayyaf and rogue MILF believed to be led by Sattar Alih and Puruji Indama,” Cacho said.

She said fighting on Basilan was concentrated in its interior jungle area where the Abu Sayyaf and rogue MILF rebels beheaded 14 Marines in July last year.

“This operation is part of our campaign to flush out the Abu Sayyaf which is responsible for a series of kidnappings,” Cacho said. 

The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for beheading their hostages and who are on a US list of terrorist organizations with links to al-Qaeda, recently snatched seven construction workers, a 9-year-old girl and a nursing student on Basilan. Last September, the bandits snatched Mendoza and Hupida, workers of a volunteer aid group in Basilan.

Cacho denied attacking the MILF camp in the area, saying the troops were conducting clearing operations at Barangay Kailih when they came under attack.

“We did not attack the MILF. It was our forces conducting security operations that were attacked instead,” she said.

Cacho also denied an MILF allegation that troops conducted indiscriminate air strikes in the area, displacing thousands of civilians.

“These allegations are done because we are hitting the MILF reinforcements,” Cacho said.

The military also clarified the firefight was concentrated at the hillside, with no civilians in sight.

Unconfirmed reports, however, said a local official was trapped during the encounter, but Cacho said they have yet to confirm the information.

Basilan Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Sakalahul also denied the reports that he just had contact with Al-Barka Mayor Karam Jakilan and advised the official to secure the safety of civilians in his area.

Jakilan, for his part, reported that around 3,000 civilians were displaced by the fighting. – With Roel Pareño, Jaime Laude, AP