[gatagato]

Six of the 50 were officials

50 Philippine police commandos were killed in an 11-hour firefight with Muslim rebels which erupted while they were chasing one of the region’s most wanted militants, police said Monday.

The clash — which broke out despite a peace pact with the main rebel group — was “the single largest loss of life in recent memory by our security forces”, said interior minister Manuel Roxas.

A total of 50 commandos were killed Sunday in the remote town of Mamasapano, a known rebel stronghold, on Mindanao island in the south, the national police chief Leonardo Espina told a news conference.

Regional police spokeswoman Judith Ambong told AFP separately the bodies of 49 policemen were recovered.

Eleven police were injured but there was no information on any Muslim rebel casualties.

Almost 400 police commandos swooped before dawn on the hideout of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter group which rejects the peace pact, in search of Zulkifli bin Hir.

Roxas said police claimed to have killed Zulkifli, a bombmaker for the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group which staged the 2002 Bali bombings and other deadly attacks.

President Benigno Aquino ordered an investigation into the incident, a major test of the accord intended to end a 40-year insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Sunday’s bloodbath highlighted “security challenges” but nonetheless strengthened the resolve of negotiators, government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said in a statement.

Over 1,000 people displaced by the violence have begun returning to their homes after the fighting stopped Sunday afternoon, Mamasapano town mayor Tahirodin Benzar Ampatuan said.

The firefight was only the second since the ceasefire. Two soldiers and 18 Muslim gunmen were killed in a clash on the southern island of Basilan in April 2014.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/1...m-police-chief
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...clash-survivor
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-artic...=international

[spudigitti]

:2guns firing_v1:

[commondenom]

i hope they killed many rebels....

muslims fighting muslims...i don't know which side to root for

[kellyhound]

massive loss. those Muslim rebels are heavy armed like always. Likely an ambush as no casualties on their side.

[Oswald2001]

Somebody tipped off the moo slum terrorists.

This is why Mecca should be nuked and ALL mosques destroyed the world over.

[MrCorpse]

Originally Posted by Oswald2001 ↗

Somebody tipped off the moo slum terrorists.

This is why Mecca should be nuked and ALL mosques destroyed the world over.

Why stop at Mosques? Religion is a cancer, take down all the churches at the same time.

[commondenom]

Originally Posted by MrCorpse ↗

Why stop at Mosques? Religion is a cancer, take down all the churches at the same time.

too fucking right.... burn them all!!!

[Nite]

Originally Posted by commondenom ↗

i hope they killed many rebels....

muslims fighting muslims...i don't know which side to root for

Muslims fighting Catholics. The Philippines is predominately Catholic,it was for a long time a Spanish Colony .

[GregK]

How would being violent make up for their violence.

Nothing stops terrorist recruitment like blowing up all their mosques
I mean that's how a lot of recruits are gained; By propagating western actions.

[Pigeon]

Mindanao being Mindanao.