Got a tip? Send it to us at manila@coconuts.co.
Government troops have found a Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) uniform allegedly belonging to one of 44 SAF personnel killed in the January 25 Mamasapano incident in a Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) camp in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.
“We believe it’s from the SAF 44 because no one is selling that kind of uniform here, unlike our (military) uniform which you can buy anywhere here (in Maguindanao),” said Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, public affairs officer of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
Troops from the 10th Scout Ranger Company, who were on a combat operation, clashed with about seven BIFF members in Barangay Macalag in Datu Unsay around 7 a.m. last June 7.
The BIFF men withdrew after a 15-minute firefight, with no reported casualties on both sides.
Recovered from the encounter site was an improvised rifle left behind by the retreating BIFF forces.
The military later found a “newly established” BIFF camp about a kilometer away from the encounter site. The camp, which has seven huts that can accommodate 60 persons, was empty when soldiers arrived.
Found in the camp were a SAF uniform top, two military battle dress uniforms, four jungle hammocks, assorted ammunition, and a sweatshirt with “BIFF” markings.
The SAF uniform found in the camp had on it a name cloth with “Usman” written on it. However, no one among the slain police commandos goes by that surname.
According to Petinglay, they could not categorically say if the uniform was worn by notorious BIFF bomber Basit Usman, as Usman is a common surname among Muslims.
She added that the original name cloth in the SAF uniform was removed and replaced with the new name cloth.
“The name cloth can be replaced, its easy to make a name cloth,” Petinglay said.
Basit Usman who was killed by Moro Islamic Liberation rebels in a firefight in Guindulungan town, Maguindanao last May 3.
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 Abdul Basit 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 have done probes on the Mamasapano encounter to determine what went wrong. It was revealed that the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and even some armed civilians were also involved in the clash.
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
DONE READING? SIT BACK, RELAX, WATCH COCONUTS TV
