31 Abus and ‘rogue’ MNLF, 26 soldiers killed in Sulu clashes

(Updated 1:15 p.m.) Fierce clashes between government troops and Moro gunmen in Sulu have killed 26 soldiers and 31 Abu Sayyaf bandits and "rogue" Moro National Liberation Front fighters, the military said Friday. Officials offered conflicting statements on whether the MNLF itself was involved in the fighting. Armed Forces public information office chief Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said in a text message on Friday morning that since the fighting started on Tuesday, 26 soldiers from the 33rd Infantry Battalion have been killed in a series of clashes in the restive island-province. Radio station dzBB reported that Bacarro said 31 Abu Sayyaf and "rogue" MNLF members have been killed based on intelligence reports. He said five bodies have been recovered. Meanwhile, radio station dzBB reported that Western Mindanao Command spokesman Major Eugene Batara said soldiers had not battled MNLF fighters. But on Friday early morning, GMA News' Chino Gaston reported that military officials said the clashes were apparently staged by Abu Sayyaf and MNLF members. Also on Thursday afternoon, MNLF deputy chair Hatimil Hassan had said its forces staged the ambush in Maimbung town that left 10 soldiers dead. "It was not Abu Sayyaf. It was our troops. The problem is with the military. They initiated the attacks," said Hassan, who added that the attack was in retaliation for the killing of four of their comrades, including a commander, earlier that day. The government and the MNLF signed a peace accord in 1996 although some of the Moro group's fighters have sporadically clashed with soldiers. Thousands flee The Department of Social Work and Development said more than 4,300 people have fled since the fighting started. Bai Racma Imam, secretary of the DSWD in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the number of evacuees may swell as fighting continues. Imam said the evacuees included 615 families from Parang town and 160 families from Indanan. "We are afraid that the fighting will escalate in other towns. There is possibility also that the current figures of displace people will balloon due to the ongoing fighting," Imam said. "The immediate needs of the people in the area right now are blankets, food supplies and medicines for the children," she added. Deadly ambush and pursuit The fighting started on Tuesday, when two Marines were wounded in a firefight with gunmen near Mount Tubora in Indanan town. On Wednesday early morning, troops from the 33rd IB clashed with Abu Sayyaf members near Barangay (village) Upper Sampunay in Parang town. One soldier was killed and five other troops wounded. On Thursday early morning, it was reported that nine soldiers were killed in an ambush at Maimbung town. One of two wounded troops later died, brining the toll to 10. The slain soldiers from the same Army unit were onboard a military truck on an “administrative" assignment when they were attacked by an Abu Sayyaf band led by Radullah Sahiron, believed to be the group's top leader in Sulu. The military could not say if there were casualties on the attackers’ side. Officials tagged the Abu Sayyaf in the attack but the MNLF owned up to the ambush, saying it was in retaliation for an earlier military attack that left four of their comrades, including a commander, dead. In the afternoon that day near Indanan town, troops also from the 33rd IB sent to pursue the gunmen behind the ambush stumbled upon a bigger force reportedly led by Abu Sayyaf commanders Albader Parad and Dr Abu Pula. In a statement on Friday morning, the Army said the firefight left 15 soldiers dead and 10 others wounded. It added that 27 attackers were killed out of the 120-man group that engaged the soldiers in a three-hour firefight. But only one body of an attacker in that incident has so far been recovered. The military initially tagged the attackers as a combined Abu Sayyaf-MNLF force but the Western Mindanao Command clarified that only the former was involved. The Army’s statement on Friday again blamed the attack on the Abu Sayyaf along with “rogue" MNLF members under Dr Abu and another unidentified leader. It added that one of the slain Abu Sayyaf gunmen was a certain Salip Edimar, reportedly part of Sahiron's close-in security. - GMANews.TV