Army commander says MILF report on Basilan deaths a 'lie' but admits 4 troops hurt in ambush

From InterAksyon (Oct 1): Army commander says MILF report on Basilan deaths a 'lie' but admits 4 troops hurt in ambush

An Army brigade commander dismissed as a “complete lie” a Moro Islamic Liberation Front claim that 30 soldiers were killed in Basilan province over the weekend, but acknowledged that an ambush had left four troops wounded.

Colonel Carlito Galvez, commander of the 104th Infantry Brigade, said in a phone interview that a member of the International Monitoring Team, which oversees a truce between the government and the MILF, informed him “about that story that came out in Luwaran,” the MILF website, and asking him for confirmation.

The Luwaran article claimed government troops attempted to assault a Moro National Liberation Front position in Barangay Ettub-Ettub, Sumisip town Saturday evening but lost 30 dead and “scores wounded.”

Saturday was the same day Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin declared the bloody standoff in Zamboanga City “over.”

The MILF also claimed the military bombarded the site of the battle, sending civilians fleeing their homes.

But Galvez described the report as “preposterous” and a “complete lie”.

“Our soldiers did not attack the MNLF, they were ambushed. The firefight left four soldiers wounded. On the enemy side, there was one (dead), four of them wounded and one still missing …” Galvez retorted.

The MILF, which broke away from the MNLF in the early 1980s, is engaged in peace talks with government, with both sides saying they are closing to forging a final agreement.

However, the MNLF has rejected the current negotiations, which it claims voids a 1996 peace agreement it sealed with the government.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/71847/army-commander-says-milf-report-on-basilan-deaths-a-lie-but-admits-4-troops-hurt-in-ambush