Islamic militants killed 14 Philippine marines searching for a kidnapped Italian priest during a major gunbattle, and later beheaded 10 of them, the military said Wednesday.
The troops were ambushed on the southern island of Basilan by a joint force from the Philippines’ main Islamic rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, a marine spokesman said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan said 14 marines were killed in the eight-hour clash, increasing an earlier death toll after more bodies were recovered. Ten had been discovered beheaded, he said in Manila.
“All 10 marines earlier reported missing have been found dead,” Caculitan told reporters, without explaining a discrepancy in earlier numbers.
“All were beheaded,” he added.
He said earlier six were still missing after the gunbattle with about 200 militants near Tipo-Tipo town on Tuesday.
Some of the beheaded marines had been found by provincial authorities in Basilan and been turned over to the military, other marines said.
Another nine were injured in the clash.
Intelligence reports said Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was being kept in an area where MILF forces were known to operate and the troops had been sent in to investigate, said regional marine commander Ramiro Alivio.
About 80 marines clashed heavily with 300 MILF militants backed by Abu Sayyaf fighters, after arriving there early Tuesday, said Colonel Alivio.
“We can confirm 14 were killed and nine were wounded,” Alivio told AFP.
“All of our men have (now) been accounted for,” he said.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged the group’s fighters clashed with the military, but he denied Abu Sayyaf militants were involved, and accused the troops of violating a ceasefire by entering an MILF area.
The 12,000-strong MILF is the country’s main separatist rebel group and is currently engaged in peace talks with the government in Manila.
The Abu Sayyaf is an Al Qaeda-linked group of self-styled Islamic fighters blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks and many kidnappings.
Bossi, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), was seized by heavily armed men near his parish church in southern Zamboanga peninsula on June 10.
The government had earlier said his kidnappers could either be Abu Sayyaf men or renegade members of the MILF. The MILF has denied any involvement in the abduction and initially helped in the hunt for Bossi’s captors.
MILF spokesman Kabalu stressed that his group had long cut links to Abu Sayyaf militants, who are known for mutilating their victims.
“The firefight was touched off because they entered our area without first coordinating with the MILF leadership as agreed upon in the peace talks,” Kabalu told AFP by phone from his base in the southern Philippines.
“This is their fault because they intruded into our territory and our forces were alarmed and had to defend their positions,” he said.
The provocation, he said, was a clear violation of a 2003 truce and would be brought up at a joint monitoring committee.
“The MILF is not involved in the Bossi kidnapping. This we say loud and clear,” Kabalu said.
The Roman Catholic news agency Asianews said Tuesday it doubted that Abu Sayyaf militants were involved in the kidnapping. It said it was more likely he was being held by a criminal gang.
