US ‘Pave Hawks’ evacuate wounded soldiers in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY — US military helicopters evacuated three wounded Filipino soldiers after a clash with Muslim extremists on Basilan island that left one Filipino soldier dead, officials said yesterday.

It was the first time that US military advisers in the southern Philippines had a role, even indirect, in the Philippines’ war with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have been linked to the international al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The soldier was shot in a firefight on Friday night after a Philippine Army patrol chanced upon Abu Sayyaf rebels in Lantawan town on the jungle-clad island of Basilan, officials said.

Two Abu Sayyaf rebels were killed in another clash in nearby Sulu yesterday morning, they added.

The Filipino military has lacked night-flight capabilities and soldiers have often bled to death while waiting for morning evacuation. Military officials, impressed by the medical flights, said an ongoing US night-flight training mission can enhance their capability.

Maj. Noel Detoyato, a Philippine military spokesman, said two US Pave Hawk helicopters flew to the war-torn island of Basilan late Friday after Abu Sayyaf guerrillas ambushed a Philippine Army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding three. The Pave Hawks are a version of the popular US army Blackhawks.

The fighting had apparently subsided by the time the helicopters reached the site from their temporary base here.

Detoyato said the clash broke out before midnight in a jungle off Bolansa village in Lantawan town and the shooting lasted about 15 minutes.

A US military spokeswoman confirmed the evacuation but refused to elaborate.

Detoyato said the Filipinos were ambushed as they marched to establish a forward base in the northwest of the island which is home to about 60 guerrillas who hold American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap hostage.

Col. Alexander Aleo, commander of the Army’s103rd Infantry Brigade, said the dead and wounded troops in Friday’s clash were hit in the first exchange of gunfire.

Philippine military officials requested their US counterparts send helicopters to evacuate the wounded. Both sides had earlier agreed to use Philippine military helicopters during the day for medical evacuations and US choppers at night.

Philippine military helicopters, most of them US handovers from the Vietnam war era, are not capable of flying at night. Soldiers consider this a crucial disadvantage to the several thousand Filipino troops hunting the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in Basilan. The US evacuation Friday showed the advantage of the American military presence in the southern Philippines.

"Last night there was an operation where our assistance was requested for some wounded soldiers and we supported that request...we sent our helicopter there at night time, the crew were with night vision goggles, to recover some Philippine soldiers," Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, chief of the United States Special Operations Command in the Pacific, told reporters.

"We’re able to perform night evacuation now with the use of US helicopters," said a Filipino military official in the ongoing Balikatan 02-1, which allows American soldiers to enter combat zones in Basilan to observe Filipino combat troops in action as part of the exercise.

The US military has also been providing equipment and weapons to Filipino forces and are to train them in helicopter night flying, intelligence gathering and combat techniques.

The more than 600 American military personnel, including 160 members of the elite US Special Forces, deployed in the country are restricted to training and logistics support but military officials said the helicopter was called in after the fighting had ended.

Left-wing groups and nationalists have opposed the joint exercise over concerns it could violate Philippine constitutional limits on the presence and activities of foreign troops in this former US colony.

The Abu Sayyaf, branded a group of bandits by the government, claims to be fighting for an Islamic homeland in the southern Philippines.

However, its main activity has been kidnapping for ransom. – Roel Pareño