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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
14 Marines killed in clash with Muslim rebels
MANILA (Updated, 4:19 p.m.) - Government troops recovered the bodies of 14 Marines, 10 of them beheaded, following a clash with Muslim insurgents, a Marine spokesman said Wednesday.
The troops were among those searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.
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Nine others were wounded in one of the bloodiest fights this year, which erupted Tuesday in Tipo Tipo town on southern Basilan, said Lt. Col. Ariel
Caculitan.
At least 10 of the bodies, among them six Marines earlier reported missing, were beheaded, Caculitan said.
The military blamed al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants.
Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator for the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that is engaged in talks with the Philippine government, said the Marines had attacked an MILF stronghold and that his forces fought back.
Iqbal said the fierce fighting was "a product of non-coordination of their movement in the town," adding that government knows the area is MILF territory.
"There is no Abu Sayyaf there, it's pure MILF. The soldiers entered into an area of the MILF without coordination so the fighting ensued," said Iqbal, adding that 11 MILF rebels were killed and seven others were wounded in the firefight.
Iqbal said the MILF is filing a protest before the Philippine Government Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) for the "grave violation" of the government troops, who he said initiated the attack on the MILF fighters.
The CCCH is a mechanism in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement reached years ago by the government and the MILF, pending negotiations for a final peace accord. Formal peace negotiations hit an impasse late last year over the issue of ancestral domain.
He denied his forces were responsible for the beheadings, saying he would investigate.
Iqbal accused government troops of violating a 2003 ceasefire, saying they failed to coordinate with the rebels. He ruled out claims that Abu Sayyaf militants had sought refuge in the MILF stronghold, but did not explain who might have been responsible for the beheadings.
The gruesome decapitations are a trademark of the Abu Sayyaf, which has beheaded hostages in the past, including an American.
Philippine officials have issued conflicting statements on the identity of the groups that might have kidnapped Bossi, a 57-year-old missionary from Milan, on June 10.
Authorities initially blamed an MILF commander. The group denied any role and deployed forces in the initial weeks after the abduction to help government troops search for Bossi.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has said Abu Sayyaf militants may have been responsible. But Army officers say Abu Sayyaf gunmen do not have a presence in the area where Bossi was kidnapped.
Caculitan said he couldn't confirm reports that Bossi was taken to Basilan.
"We have no visual contact ... so we cannot say he is there or he is not there," he said. (AP/VR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (July 11, 2007 issue)
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