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All they want is peace.
“On Friday, Februaury 6, Muslims gathered at the Golden Mosque in Manila’s Quiapo district on Friday to pray for peace amid tension over a clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that left 44 Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) troopers dead,” reports GMA News Online.
The report noted: “The Muslims called for peace in Mindanao during their prayers. They also voiced resistance to calls for an all-out war over the clash, which also claimed the lives of 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters, and at least seven civilians.”
They Muslims who gathered also extended their sympathies to the families of those killed in the fighting.
The encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan 25 left 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF) dead. The PNP-SAF troopers had been out to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Filipino bomb maker Abdulbasit Usman. Both men had bounties on their heads placed by the U.S. government: US$5 million for Marwan and US$1 million for Usman.
The operation turned bloody when members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they had to fight back because the PNP-SAF had breached their territory. They alleged that they had not been informed about the operation to get Marwan and Usman. The hostile encounter lasted 11 hours. The MILF lost 18 of their fighters.
Both the government and the MILF are doing currently probes on the Mamsapano encounter to determined what went wrong, as the incident threatens the Bangsamoro peace deal.
Photo: Chongkian (WikiCommons)
