A SAF member who survived the
battle against hundreds of fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) said they were attacked from
three directions in an open field near the hideout of Marwan and another
terrorist in Barangay Tukanalipao.
The policeman, who asked not to
be named, said some of his wounded companions who ran out of ammunition crawled
near an irrigation dike, but rebels finished them off with rifle shots to the
head.
“We ran out of ammunition so
there was no way we could stop them from coming close,” the policeman.
At least two SAF teams were
attacked from behind while guarding their designated alternate withdrawal
route.
“There was heavy volume of fire
from different directions. We were not subdued, we maneuvered for cover but the
area was a plain and there was no good spot where we could position ourselves
safely,” said the policeman, who asked not to be identified.
The survivor said their defense weakened when
they started running out of ammunition.
“I made the sign of the cross and
I asked God to forgive me for all my sins. I was ready to die then,” he said.
He said many of his companions
were felled by heavy gunfire from as close as six to seven meters.
“It was very dark. The flash of
gunfire from the barrels of our guns and their guns can be seen clearly because
we were close to each other,” he said.
He said he crawled to a nearby
swamp as firing waned and walked away at daybreak until he reached a road where
policemen and soldiers helped him.
He said he noticed foreign
ceasefire monitors in the scene, helping disengage rebels from Barangay
Tukanalipao
Based on accounts from villagers,
community leaders may have innocently alerted the MILF’s 105th Base Command to
the presence of the policemen.
A barangay official in Mamasapano
had told a local television outfit that he called officials of the MILF unit
and told them of the presence of armed men that he thought were rebels.
He was told that the MILF had no
tactical maneuver in the area.
Some community elders said they,
too, had frantically alerted local Moro commanders of the activities of men in
combat uniforms.
“It was dark and we can’t see the
patches on their uniform from a distance. We were also scared to go out and
check,” one of the village elders said.
The ensuing fighting left 44 SAF
commandos killed and a dozen others injured. The MILF said it also lost 11
guerrillas in the “misencounter.”
Villagers also told stories of
how BIFF fighters finished off with shots to the head no fewer than 10 wounded
policemen.
“Two of the wounded policemen who
were executed even managed to strap tourniquets on their legs which were hit by
bullets in the initial encounter,” a villager said.
A peasant named Badrudin
Nanganlan, 21, and five-year-old Sarah Sampulna Panangulon, were killed in the
crossfire.
Nanganlan’s 19-year-old widow,
Sarah, told reporters her husband was immediately buried in keeping with
Islamic tradition.
The gunfight that lasted for more
than 10 hours also left a villager, Said Pasawilan, wounded.
“Villagers were running
everywhere. We heard loud automatic gunshots and explosions,” said Ahmida Muda,
whose family was forced to evacuate to a safer area.
Saida Esmael, also a resident of
Barangay Tukanalipao, said they tried to leave and head to the town proper as
the firefight erupted, but were prevented from doing so when exchanges of
gunfire intensified.
Esmael Hashim, chairman of
Barangay Tukanalipao, said he noticed the arrival of the SAF men and was
surprised that none of them came to see him to coordinate.
He said previous police and
military operations in their barangay were properly coordinated with community
leaders and the local government unit of Mamasapano.
“It was about 4:00 a.m. (Jan. 25)
when we heard gunshots near the barangay Islamic center and that was the start
of a long encounter,” Hashim said in Filipino.
MILF leader Al-Haj Murad and
chief peace negotiator Muhaquer Iqbal said the encounter could have been
avoided had the Philippine National Police coordinated its operation with the
joint ceasefire committee
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