CEBU – Army soldiers killed 6 policemen and wounded 9 more after they mistook the unit as members of the communist rebel group New People’s Army in Samar province in central Philippines.
The soldiers, all from Charlie Company of the 87th Infantry Battalion, attacked the group of policemen who were tracking down the rebels in Rosal village in Santa Rita town on Monday morning.
The policemen had no chance on the battle-hardened soldiers, although they managed to hold on fighting the infantrymen for about 20 minutes until reinforcements arrived.
At the end of the fighting, six policemen laid dead – many of them with gunshot wounds in the head, believed to have been taken down by army snipers. The soldiers were also in the same area and hunting down NPA insurgents.
There was no report military casualties and the Armed Forces of the Philippines called the incident as “misencounter” with both sides ordering an investigation into the deadly fighting to determine what went wrong or if protocols or rules of engagement were not followed.
Police said Lieutenant Orlando M. Casipit Jr. was the commander of the army squad, comprising of 16 soldiers, who attacked the policemen.
The slain policemen – members of the 805th Mobile Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion – have been identified as Phil Rey Mendigo, Edwin Ebrado, Wyndell Noromor, Rowel Reyes, Julie Escalo and Julius Suarez – all with the rank of Police Officer 1.
And the wounded as Romulo Cordero, Elmer Pan, Chris Angelo Pialago, Jaime Galoy, Rey Barbosa, Jonel Gonzaga, Rommel Bagunas, Janmark Adones, and Roden Goden, also Police Officers 1.
It was not immediately known whether the policemen, who were all clad in camouflage uniform, were fresh recruits and on a test mission. (Mindanao Examiner-Cebu Examiner)
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