Surrounded PNP-SAF operatives reportedly asked by MILF to put their hands in the air and leave

From InterAksyon (Mar 19): Surrounded PNP-SAF operatives reportedly asked by MILF to put their hands in the air and leave

Reports reaching Manila indicated that a company of police operatives, including a good number of commandos from the Special Action Force (SAF), early on Wednesday morning entered an area in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, to seek out alleged high-value targets.

Their presence was duly detected and they were quickly surrounded by forces from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a reliable source from the intelligence community told Interaksyon.com on Thursday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the police force entered territory under the control of the MILF 106th Base Command, allegedly on a so-called "Time on Target mission" based on intelligence information that the wanted bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman and Malaysian terrorist Amin Baco alias Jihad were hiding in the area.

"Not a single shot was fired from both sides, because the police team was detected and promptly yelled at by MILF fighters not to proceed in order to avoid an encounter. They were surrounded and told to raise their hands, and to leave if they don't want to be shot at," the source said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. could not immediately be reached for comment.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, said they too heard about the report, but were still in the process of verifying and to confirm it.

Records show that this is not the first time that PNP-SAF forces were surrounded by Moro rebels and received the "hands up" order.

The first incident supposedly happened in Barangay Tabiaran, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, a few years after the unit was established in the early 90s, when some SAF troops found themselves surrounded by MILF fighters.

The second incident is supposed to have happened at Kapatagan Grande in Sitio Fuente Egas, Barangay Masula, Isabela City, Basilan. SAF troops were again surrounded and asked to surrender, this time by fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

In 1995, SAF men and officers were caught between a standoff of thousands of Army troops and MILF fighters, where the police commandos were again ordered by the MILF forces to raise their arms in the air and get out of the area. This happened in Matanog, Maguindanao.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/107279/surrounded-pnp-saf-operatives-reportedly-asked-by-milf-to-put-their-hands-in-the-air-and-leave