Board of Inquiry to probe death of 6 soldiers in 'friendly fire' incident in Sulu

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 10): Board of Inquiry to probe death of 6 soldiers in 'friendly fire' incident in Sulu

A Board of Inquiry, headed by Western Mindanao Command head Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, revealed that six soldiers were killed after a 105mm artillery shell hit their command post in Sulu last month.

This was revealed by Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief, Thursday.

All six troopers are members of the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG), he added.

Guerrero's report was submitted to AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista last Monday.

The JSOG troopers in were supposed to reinforce the Marine Force Reconnaissance that was attacked by Abu Sayyaf Group brigands last June 19 in Barangay Kagay, in Patikul town.

The ambush killed one Marine officer and wounded 11 others.

This prompted survivors to call for fire support from a nearby Marine 105mm battery.

The consequent shelling hit the position of the JSOG operatives, killing six troopers immediately.

Zagala did not give exact details on how the "friendly fire" incident occurred, adding that he was not yet privy to the report submitted by Guerrero

"This is unfortunate and this is not intentional, there are certain elements in combat such as the stress that those in conflict are undergoing so the Board of Inquiry is there to find out where the mistakes were, find out where it will not, find out how to prevent such occurrence again in the future," the AFP public affairs office chief stressed.

And although these soldiers died from accidental shelling, it does not diminish the act of courage of the troopers killed as they are still part of the operations against terrorists, Zagala stated.

"We consider them as heroes," he added.

Zagala also took this opportunity to point that "friendly fire" does not happen just here in the Philippines but even in nations with modern military weapons and systems.

"These are the realities of combat, realities of conflict and we want that after this Board of Inquiry we can further find out what recommendations can be made so again to prevent this from happening again," he pointed out.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=661519