From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Sep 27): MNLF last stand: ‘Enemies will to fight waning’
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said Habier Malik remained with his
men, making a last stand even after nearly 200 of his fighters had been captured
or had surrendered, and 138 had been killed.
“To be able to capture him is a big factor. The enemies’ will to fight is
waning and they [are low on] ammunition,” Zagala said.
Two of the Marine soldiers who were killed belonged to the Marine Battalion
Landing Team 3. They encountered MNLF rebels coming from the fishpond of
Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology in the village of Rio
Hondo at around 4:25 a.m. Thursday.
A firefight broke out, which lasted for 20 minutes.
Three MNLF rebels were killed in the fighting.
The conflict has claimed the lives of 23 security forces with 180 wounded.
Twelve civilians have died in the fighting in the past two weeks.
Rebel strength
In an earlier interview, Zagala said the military was trying to determine
whether the rebels were still holding hostages, as the rescue of the six
residents indicated that all those reported taken have been recovered.
Zagala explained that the security forces want to ensure that there won’t be
any civilians caught in the crossfire as they press on to get Malik and the
remnants of his group.
The 18-day conflict was a rescue mission for the estimated 200 hostages taken
by Nur Misuari’s followers since they attempted to take over Zamboanga City
Hall, hoist their flag and declare an “independent Bangsamoro Republik.”
President Aquino, who stayed in Zamboanga for more than a week to oversee the
operations, ordered a surgical and deliberate military action to prevent the
loss of civilian lives.
Zagala said the military was reassessing the information it earlier received
on the strength of the MNLF band.
He said the military initially estimated that there were 300 to 400 fighters
in the coastal areas of the city but the figure was later reduced to 180, the
number of rebels who landed in the coastal villages on the morning of Sept. 9.
“Let me emphasize that [the figure] we earlier came out with [on the MNLF
strength] was an estimate. There was not a lot of information yet,” he said.
The released hostages and the captured rebels have given the security forces
more information that could be considered as the security forces press on to
find Malik, Zagala said.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/496149/mnlf-last-stand-enemies-will-to-fight-waning
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.