COTABATO CITY — Gunmen attacked on Wednesday afternoon a team of soldiers out on a humanitarian mission in Sumisip town in Basilan, killing two of them and hurting 12 others, now in a hospital.
Brig. Gen. Alvin V. Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade, and the director of the Bangsamoro regional police, Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz, separately confirmed that the group also deliberately set on fire the KM 450 vehicle of the soldiers as they repositioned a few meters away during the heavy exchange of gunfire.
Mr. Luzon said the team from the 32nd Infantry Battalion (IB) will be helping connect representatives of the United Nations Development Programme to villagers in Barangay Upper Cabengbeng and other areas in Sumisip for potential anti-poverty projects in the area.
The gunmen who attacked the soldiers were positioned along a stretch of the highway in Barangay Upper Cabengbeng.
Mr. Luzon had urged the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to censure the front members responsible for the atrocity.
Local officials said two of the ambushers, Najal Garib Buena and Oman Hajal Jalis, are known in Sumisip for their involvement in criminal activities.
“We are hoping for the front’s prompt action on this incident,” Mr. Luzon said, referring to the MILF.
Anwar D. Alamada, chairman of the MILF’s ad-hoc ceasefire monitoring group, told reporters on Thursday morning that the deadly encounter could have been avoided had officials of the 32nd IB coordinated with their commanders in Basilan their supposedly non-tactical mission in Barangay Upper Cabengbeng.
“There was no prior coordination at all. There are protocols on that jointly established by the MILF and the national government, set to forestall encounters like that,” he said. — John Felix M. Unson