The Zamboanga Del Sur-based 1st Infantry Division will
conduct an investigation into the August 29 clash in Patikul, Sulu to determine
why Army troops sustained massive losses and casualties, Philippine Army (PA)
commander Lt. Gen. Eduardo Ano said Thursday.
The Zamboanga Del Sur-based 1st Infantry Division has
operational control on the troops involved in the seven encounters with the Abu
Sayyaf Group (ASG) since the focused military operations against the bandit
group started last August 26.
Ano said composition of the forces used in the government's
anti-ASG campaign have remained the same. In fact, the military was winning the
fight against the terrorists as proven by the record of the Scout Ranger units
early in the campaign.
Prior to the August 29 clash, no government troops were
killed and only 17 were reported wounded while an estimated 21 ASG bandits were
reported neutralized with 10 terrorist cadavers recovered.
Fifteen troopers were killed and 12 others were wounded
after military units clashed heavily with ASG bandits, headed by Radullan
Sahiron, in Sitio Kan Jalul, Barangay Maligay, Patikul, Sulu last Monday.
A total of 30 terrorists were reported to have been killed
during the ongoing focused military operations against the ASG which started
last week.
Another 11 brigands were reported wounded in the series of
clashes with government forces.
"Objective is to find the reasons (that) led to the
(huge number of military casualties) that's automatic," Ano said in
Filipino.
The PA chief also said three battalions are on the way to
augment military units conducting focused military operations in Sulu.
The offensive was the offshoot of the bandit group's brutal
beheading of 18-year-old Patrick Jhames Almodavar last week.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=919118
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