Gadamn! Abu Sayyaf bandits behead 4 Marines

[theveed]

(UPDATE 2) Abu Sayyaf bandits behead 4 Marines


By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 10:59am (Mla time) 07/11/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Islamic militants killed eight Philippine marines searching for a kidnapped Italian priest during a major gunbattle, and later beheaded four of them, the military said Wednesday.

The troops were ambushed on the southern island of Basilan by a joint force from the Philippines' main Islamic rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, said Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan, a spokesman for the Marines.

Caculitan said nine marines were injured and six other soldiers were still missing after the eight-hour clash with around 300 rebels near the town of Tipo-Tipo.

He said troops were checking reports that Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, 57, had been spotted with his kidnappers in the region.

The four beheaded Marines were found in Ginatan village, Tipo-Tipo, near the site of the firefight, said Caculitan.

Caculitan accused the Abu Sayyaf of committing this “barbaric” act, saying, “Whenever they have the chance, they will decapitate their victims."

He could not confirm whether the bandits were holding the six other Marines, Caculitan said.

"Our effort is to find the missing and hunt down the bandits," Caculitan said, adding Major General Nelson Allaga, Marine Corps commandant, was "monitoring" the Basilan operations.

Caculitan said there was no immediate order to augment the troops in Basilan and that Allaga was leaving it up to the commander of the 1st Marine Brigade in the area, Colonel Ramiro Alivio, to handle the situation.

"Everything is delegated to the commander on the ground [Alivio]," Caculitan said.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged the group's fighters had a firefight with the military, but denied that Abu Sayyaf militants were involved and accused the troops of violating a ceasefire by entering an MILF area.

"The firefight was touched off because they entered our area without first coordinating with the MILF leadership as agreed upon in the peace talks," Kabalu told Agence France-Presse by phone from his base in the southern Philippines.

"This is their fault because they intruded into our territory and our forces were alarmed and had to defend their positions," he said.

The provocation, he said, was a clear violation of a 2003 truce and would be brought up to a joint monitoring committee.

The encounter between about 50 Marines and some 300 Abu Sayyaf members erupted at around 10 a.m. Tuesday and stretched until 7 p.m. of the same day.

The troops were on their way back to base after acting on a reported sighting of Bossi, reportedly being held by the Abu Sayyaf in the area.

Bossi, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), was kidnapped last June 10 in Payao town, Zamboanga Sibugay province, where he had served as parish priest. He is the third Italian clergyman to be kidnapped in the south since the 1990s.

The government had said that the priest’s kidnappers could either be Abu Sayyaf men or renegade members of the MILF.

The MILF has denied any involvement in the abduction and initially helped in the hunt for Bossi's captors.

"The MILF is not involved in the Bossi kidnapping. This we say loud and clear," Kabalu said.

The 12,000-strong MILF is the country's main separatist rebel group and is currently engaged in peace talks with the government in Manila.

The Abu Sayyaf is an Al Qaeda-linked group of self-styled Islamic fighters blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks and many kidnappings.

The Roman Catholic news agency Asianews, the mouthpiece of The Vatican, said Tuesday it doubted that Abu Sayyaf militants were involved in the kidnapping. It said it was more likely he was being held by a criminal gang.

[boybi]

Sabi sa interview kanina sa radio, hindi naman daw na beheaded literally, napuruhan daw ng bala yung mga ulo. And hindi pa rin daw confirmed na Abu Sayyaf talaga ang umatake.

[mazdamazda]

Oh my... that's really barbaric...

I hope that our troops finish them off...

[Zeus]

Traydor talaga mga MILF na yan e, siguradong kasabwat yan sa pagdukot kay Bossi.

[BlueBimmer]

bakit di pa kasi ubusin ang MILF at abu sayyaf...

[jedi]

haaay, nakakalungkot na pangyayari

[funkngruvn]

Pu3 namn o! bakit di pa kasi tinapos mga asg na yan, ngayon lumalakas nanaman sila..

[Altis6453]

RIP to our brave marines. They always protect their own and they'll get after these abus sooner than later.

[docpete]

muslim ang mga yan...kamkampi sa kapwa muslin kung kristiyano ang kalaban..kahit kaaway pa niya yon..kaya kahit panoon hirap hulin ang abu sayaf dahil tinatago rin ng milf yan..kawawa lang sundalo natin

[artpogi]

tit-for-tat

whether beheaded or not, it's not surprising.

that's been happening since the Mindanao war erupted in the 70's.

Sabi nga ng kakilala ko na Mindanao war veteran, kapag nakahuli ng sundalo ang Moro kawawa ang sundalo, kapag nakahuli ng Moro ang sundalo, kawawa ang Moro.

so tit for tat