Marines run for cover during a battle with MNLF rebels in Zamboanga City. (AFP file by Ted Aljibe)
Two Marines and three Moro National Liberation Front were killed as the bloody standoff in Zamboanga City entered its 18th day on Thursday with no clear signs of resolution.
Five other Marines were wounded.
Major Angelo Guzman, deputy chief of the Armed Forces’ public affairs office, said the deaths happened during a 20-minute firefight in Barangay Rio Hondo around 4:25 a.m. when troops from the 33rd Marine Company of Marine Battalion Landing Team 3 who were conducting blocking operations clashed with MNLF fighters who came from a fishpond at the extension campus of the Zamboanga State College of Marine Science and Technology.
An M16 Armalite rifle was recovered from the rebels.
The latest casualties brought the number of military dead to 18, with 167 others wounded since the crisis broke out on September 9.
The police have suffered five dead and 114 injured.
The MNLF, on the other hand, have lost 126 dead and an unknown number of wounded, with 128 more either captured or surrendered. This would bring the total to much more than the 200 fighters authorities originally said Habier Malik, a trusted lieutenant of MNLF founder Nur Misuari, took with him when he forayed into Zamboanga.
Security forces said they have also seized 116 high-powered firearms and 21 guns of low caliber from the rebels.
The violence has also exacted a high toll on the civilian populace, with 12 killed and 54 wounded.
Another 190 civilians who the rebels took hostage have either escaped or been rescued, although the military say there are still less than two dozen in the hands of MNLF holdouts, among them Malik.
The continued violence also displaced up to 120,000 people and brought the southern port city to a standstill, although as government forces begin to retake areas once held by the rebels, businesses have started to open again and most schools have resumed classes.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/71581/day-18--casualties-continue-to-mount-in-zamboanga-with-no-end-in-sight-to-crisis
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