44 killed in Basilan war

[potterboy]

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The first bursts of gunfire thundered through the hills at 3:47 a.m. on Wednesday. By nightfall, the close-quarter, face-to-face combat was still raging, after Marine reinforcements fell into an ambush.

After the last shots had been fired, 23 soldiers—including two junior officers—lay dead, with 22 others wounded. At least 21 Abu Sayyaf bandits were also dead.

“It was a slugfest,” Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Western Mindanao Command chief, said of the fierce gun battle on Basilan Island.

For the Armed Forces, which ordered the offensive on the Abu Sayyaf hideout, the marathon fighting achieved a strategic objective—the capture of a hilltop Abu Sayyaf training camp that the bandits had been using to make bombs.

But the military paid a steep price: It suffered its worst loss ever in a single engagement with the Abu Sayyaf, a check with Inquirer archives showed.

Eighteen of the soldiers killed belonged to a Marine company that tried to help their beleaguered comrades but were ambushed, surviving soldiers said.

Some of the wounded soldiers said what puzzled them was that the Abu Sayyaf seemed to have known in advance the government troops’ movements, including the 8 a.m. arrival of reinforcements from the 67th Marine Raider Company.

Read more here: 44 killed in Basilan war - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

(Please delete this thread if there is already on posted with the same subject)

[potterboy]

What's really disappointing is MILF.

The government should destroy these groups once and for all.

[odrujahad]

alkansi man jd da.an ang offensive ani bro, pero mao lage na y kahbaw daan ang ASG

[yacky2006]

wala nay negosyo ang AFP kung hutdon na nila....

The sad part ani kay isla manang Basilan puwede mana nila e isolate... libog gyud nganong dili palibutan ang whole island...

[PhilCESM]

To our wounded and fallen soldiers...Thank you very much.

Here's our youtube tribute. [click here to watch ]

Again we are proud of you.

[garavannz]

hmmmmmmmmmm...

[flanker]

MILF tipped Abu Sayaff about the attack thats why naka prepare cla..

nag notify paman gud ang military sa MILF...

nice job ghapon sa atong miliary.. the gov should approved the procurement of Cobra Attack Helicopter.

[vahnhelsing]

the most disappointing thing on the mindanao war is that it has become business for the military...
magdalo group has cried over this war..
it has become promotion ground for the generals...
if our government is sincere in eliminating these people the should have been long gone....

[vahnhelsing]

wala nay negosyo ang AFP kung hutdon na nila....

The sad part ani kay isla manang Basilan puwede mana nila e isolate... libog gyud nganong dili palibutan ang whole island...

long before the time of marcos the rebels in that area has been surrounded under the direction by general abat... but he was shocked when marcos himself commanded to withdraw the armed forces and the warship...

mao ni nakapait sa gubat dha sa mindanao, dula ra jud ni... nangapagan ang mga inosente... mga sundalo nato manga-unay sa bala nga sa cavite ra sad buhata...
matrap ang kontra, makalingkawas lang ghapon.... saon man na pag.explain?
paita sa chess pa, nilayat ang horse!!!!

[cebulifer]

negosyo naman ng giyera sa mindanao!!!