Troops suffer casualties in clashes with Nur’s MNLF

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 27): Troops suffer casualties in clashes with Nur’s MNLF

Scores of casualties were inflicted on government forces in separate clashes with followers of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari in Zamboanga City yesterday, the 18th day of the armed conflict.
 
Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Public Affairs Office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said three soldiers were killed during the continuous clearing operations while six hostages were rescued.

“Since last night up to this morning, we were able to capture 45 MNLF Misuari faction members and we were able to rescue the six hostages but, unfortunately, in the course of the action, we have three killed and six wounded in action,” he added.

In Rio Hondo, which is among the five barangays occupied by the MNLF fighters since Sept. 9, two soldiers and three Misuari followers were reported killed during a clash around 4:25 a.m. yesterday.

Maj. Angelo Guzman, AFP-PAO assistant chief, said elements of the 33rd Marine Company were conducting blocking operations along the vicinity of Zamboanga State College of Marine Science & Technology in Barangay Rio Hondo when they clashed with the MNLF fighters.

Two Marine soldiers were killed and five others were wounded during the 20-minute firefight.

Government troops also recovered an M-16 Armalite rifle.

Guzman said the encountered MNLF fighters were not reinforcements but they have been in Barangay Rio Hondo since Day One.

Aside from barangays Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, where the focus of military operations are ongoing, and Rio Hondo, the MNLF fighters also occupied barangays Talon-Talon, Mariki and Mampang where sporadic clashes have been erupting.

But the military pressed on with efforts to end the standoff against the remnants of the MNLF force who are hiding out in homes of devastated neighborhoods.

“The terrain is urban, there is a lot of rubble, a lot of houses to hide in,” Zagala said.
“It’s very difficult for troops to operate in. The enemy can hide in areas where they can shoot from a high position.”

Twenty-three security forces and 12 civilians have died in the conflict, according to Zagala.

He said 138 MNLF troops had also been killed, while another 218 had been captured or surrendered.

After giving a daily commentary on how many MNLF rebels were still hiding out — figures that have since appeared to be underestimates — Zagala declined yesterday to say how many the military were still pursuing.

According to him, authorities are now assessing the counter-checking with the rescued hostages and those who were captured or surrendered as to the exact number of MNLF fighters and hostages.

On Wednesday, the military claimed that only around five to 10 MNLF fighters, led by Ustadz Habier Malik, are being hunted in the vicinity of barangays Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina.

President Aquino meanwhile visited yesterday the wake of three soldiers killed in the standoff between government forces and MNLF fighters in Zamboanga City.

Aquino went to Norzagaray and Pulilan towns in Bulacan to visit the wake of 1st Lt. John Kristopher Rama, 30, and 2nd Lt. Florencio Mikael Meneses, 27.

Aquino also visited the wake of 1st Lt. Francis Damian at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Rama was killed by an MNLF sniper while both Meneses and Damian died while being treated at the hospital in Zamboanga City after being wounded in the firefight.

Meanwhile, government security forces on Wednesday night caught up with elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) responsible in the atrocities in Central Mindanao early this week, sparking a firefight along Liguasan Marsh.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said the clash erupted along the boundary of Barangay Paidu Polangi, Pikit, North Cotabato and Barangay Dasawao, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao around 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Elements of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, under Brig. Gen. Ademar Tomaro, are still pursuing the encountered BIFF band, believed to be responsible in the hostage-taking in Midsayap, North Cotabato, last Monday and subsequent killing of two civilians, one of them beheaded.

Hermoso said at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday Army forces encountered another group of BIFF along Barangay Tibao, Mlang, North Cotabato near Liguasan Marsh.
There was no reported casualty during the clashes.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/19575-troops-suffer-casualties-in-clashes-with-nur-s-mnlf