Video from YouTube.
And bodies of slain police commandos being retrieved from Mamasapano town by Mayor Tahirodin Benzar Ampatuan (shown talking on the phone) and his group. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Mark Navales)
MAGUINDANAO – US troops deployed in southern Philippines have been assisting in the rescue of police commandos that clashed with former rebels in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region.
American soldiers on helicopters evacuated wounded commandos from the town of Mamasapano where police forces clashed January 25 with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after they intruded on an area under the control of the former rebel group.
At least 43 bodies of commandos, including some officers, have been retrieved by civilians and brought by soldiers to their headquarters at the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao’s Awang town. Many of the cadavers were stripped of its uniform and boots and some were even desecrated, but more bodies were still being retrieved in the remote village of Tukanalipao.
More than 100 police commandos were trying to capture notorious Filipino bomber Basit Usman and Jemaah Islamiya leader Zulkifli bin Hir, also known by his alias as Marwan – both men are also being hunted by the United States for their role in terrorist attacks in the Philippines.
Mayor Tahirodin Benzar Ampatuan said they have many of the bodies they have recovered had been turned over to the police. “We have recovered 35 bodies and handed all these to the police authorities, but there are still more cadavers in the area and we are trying to recover them,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Ampatuan said police have not informed and coordinated with him when they launched an operation in Tukanalipao. “We are not even aware of the police operation and police did not coordinate with us,” he said.
He said there were no reports that Usman or Zulkifli were hiding in his town. “We have no reports that Usman or Zulkifli are hiding in our town. What the police raid was the 105th Base Command of the MILF,” Ampatuan said.
The MILF and the 6th Infantry Division also said the police failed to inform or coordinate with them when they mounted the operations that led to fierce clashes with former rebels. Another rebel group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, also attacked police commandos and killing more than a dozen of them.
The Special Action Force commandos were pursuing “high-value” individuals on the hinterland village of Tukanalipao when they intruded inside an MILF base sparking a firefight for many hours. Army troops were sent to the area after police sought help from the military to retrieve the slain commandos.
Police and military officials were not immediately available to give a statement, but the MILF, which signed a peace deal with Manila last year, has confirmed the clashes and blamed the police for the violence.
The MILF, which signed a peace deal with Manila last year, blamed the police for the breakout of violence. “There were fierce clashes. Police forces attacked the MILF at two o’clock in the morning and our forces have to defend themselves to save their lives,” MILF Vice Chairman and chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, said in a separate interview.
Iqbal said the police did not coordinate with the MILF when it launched so-called law enforcement operations in the town. “There was no prior coordination from us and police just launched the operations,” he said.
Ghazali Jaafar, also an MILF vice chairman, said he was saddened by the clashes between police and MILF forces, especially at a time that Congress is deliberating the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law which is part of the peace accord.
“Very unfortunate ito and it is uncalled for at itong PNP ay kasama sila sa pagsulong ng kapayaan na pinagsisikapan natin na mabuo sapagkat naniniwala tayo na buong-buo na itong problema natin sa Mindanao ay kayang bigyan ng mapayapang solusyon at iyan ang dahilan kung bakit sinusulong natin ang kapayaan sa gobyerno ng Pilipinas,” said Jaafar in a radio interview with dzRH.
The 6th Infantry Division was also not informed of the police operations and unaware of it until soldiers reported heavy clashes before day break and fighting lasted until late in the afternoon.
The fighting erupted just as President Aquino visited Zamboanga City which was the scene of a deadly car bombing blamed on the Abu Sayyaf rebels. Two people were killed and 54 others wounded in the blast outside a disco bar on January 23.
Aquino was briefed by police and military officials on the security situation in Zamboanga and later visited blast victims in hospitals. He was also informed about the clashes in Maguindanao and sent Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin and General Rustico Guererro, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, including Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, to Maguindanao to defuse the tension there and speed up the recovery of slain commandos. (Mindanao Examiner – With reports from Mark Navales, Rose Muneza and Ely Dumaboc.)
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