Abu Sayyaf clash: tragedy of failure?
Gen. Hernando Iriberri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said that Saturday morning’s clash with the Abu Sayyaf in Baguindan village, Tipo-Tipo town, lasted for 10 hours.
Isnilon Hapilon, who lost his son in this skirmish, was the leader of more than a hundred Abu Sayyaf bandits; he carries a reward of $5 Million put up by the US state department.
The ferocity of the assault was all the more terrible since the encounter was fought at close quarters with the two parties being as close as 10 m.
Not just an encounter
In what can be easily described as a murderous pre-emptive assault by the Abu Sayyaf bandits, at least 18 soldiers were done to death and more than three scores were wounded, some of them seriously.
In fact, it would seem that the soldiers who were ambushed were least expecting the strike and were almost massacred in the assault. They were ambushed while on the way to attack a reported hideout of the Abu Sayyaf.
This was revealed by radio station dzRH as having been informed by Col. Manquiquis; it was a tactically planned strike since the bandits had the distinct advantage of being on a higher level which left the soldiers with virtually no means of escaping or hiding since they were fully exposed; moreover, their weaponry and explosives were quite heavy and difficult to counter or silence.
Gen. Hernando Irriberry, shared the details with the press and media personnel about the heinous action in which there are some claims that four soldiers were beheaded by the merciless bandits who have been waging a long battle with the government forces.
The fierce confrontation which occurred in Baguindan village of Tipo Tipo town, started early morning and went on till the evening on Saturday; there was point blank rebuttal of the rumours of beheading by the Western Mindanao Army Command spokesman Maj. Tan.
The official explanation provided was that the intensity of the explosives was so high that their heads had been blown off completely; be that as it may, the action was not totally unexpected since the deadline for beheading the three foreigners and a Filipino woman had passed on 8th April 2016.
Since the army soldiers were on their way to attack a hideout of the bandits a confrontation was inevitable either way.
Gen Irriberry, who was accompanied by the Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, flew to Zamboanga City on Sunday to take stock; they also took time off to visit some wounded soldiers to hear their version of the event.
The Abu Sayyaf have been threatening to behead four hostages if their demands were not met; the abduction had taken place in September when Robert Hall and John Ridsdel from Canada, Maritess Flor from the Philippines and Kjartan S from Norway were whisked away from a resort in Davao del Sur province.
According to the General, the operations were being conducted to prevent an escalation of kidnappings by these groups. The version provided by Irriberi termed the massacre as an encounter and not an ambush.
The troops were from the C Company of the 44th Battalion; the inflow of information was sketchy and unclear.
Somewhere between the lines, it was seen as a face-saving attempt by the government officials to portray the ambush as an encounter since it was quite clear that the soldiers were somehow over-confident and unprepared for the confrontation.
Gen. Iriberri did not fail to praise the heroism of the soldiers but it was clear that, apart from being ill equipped, the soldiers were not really conversant with the topography of the terrain in Basilan.
All the praise heaped upon the soldiers collectively cannot atone for the slaughter of the soldiers who were clearly victims of bad planning, insufficient intelligence inputs and improper preparation; his salutations and high praise is seen as a feeble attempt and part of what is seen to clearly be an exercise by the higher echelons to smother the blame that may be heaped upon their failures to prevent such a fiasco.
According to one of the soldiers, the first causalities happened even as the leading group of five soldiers were blown up by a landmine on which one of them stepped while they were patrolling through Baguindan.
That led to the fighting with the soldiers unable to save themselves or take refuge anywhere resulting in their being mowed down by the bandits who were in position.
This was the largest single loss of life suffered by the army since a long time. The Gen. has declared that this was an opportune time to make a thrust to totally eradicate the Abu Sayyaf terrorists and orders have been issued to continue the task of hunting them down and putting an end to the long-term struggle.
A number of jihadists are also stated to have perished in this incident including the son of Hapilon and a Moroccan Jihadist who also a teacher and an explosives trainer.
Author: Umrao Singh
