Wha?! :armyeek:

Ten dead at Philippine army base

A gunman has attacked a Philippine army base on the island of Jolo, killing nine soldiers and a civilian.

Officials said they were unsure whether the gunman was a soldier or was the civilian found among the dead.

The unidentified attacker opened fire inside the base during a power cut, one report said.

BBC News

Intruder sparks Sulu Army camp shooting

(Update) An intruder sparked the shooting inside an Army camp in a remote village in Parang town, Sulu, on Black Saturday, that left nine soldiers and a civilian dead, a military spokesman reported Sunday.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said investigators were still looking into the circumstances of the shooting incident but he theorized that the unidentified civilian who died in the shooting was behind the attack.

Torres said the incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. inside the command post of the Charlie Company of the 35th Infantry Battalion in Barangay (village) Silangkan. He said the camp was manned by a platoon composed of around 30 men.

After being alerted about the incident, 35th IB commander Lt. Col. Jose Faustino and his men went to the camp and were met with gunfire. During clearing operations, Torres said the bodies of nine soldiers and a civilian were found.

“There was a firefight, an exchange of gunfire. When the battalion commander reinforced to the area after it (incident) was reported to him, they were also fired upon," Torres said, citing sketchy reports.

Torres said when the shooting stopped, troops conducted clearing operations and saw 10 bodies. He said a soldier and the wife of one of the slain soldiers were wounded.

Torres said it was pitch dark when the “shooting incident" erupted and that the camp had no power. “To give you a picture of the camp, there was no electricity at the time incident occurred," the official said.

Torres downplayed the possibility that the Abu Sayyaf Group had a hand in the incident, saying that they are trying to identify the slain civilian, who allegedly started the firefight.

“The slain unidentified civilian might have an involvement. As of the moment, we are investigating it…We are looking into other possibilities…," said Torres.

Unconfirmed reports said a civilian walked into the camp and grabbed the rifle of one of
the soldiers and fired indiscriminately. The civilian was later shot to death by soldiers.

On its Web site (www.luwaran.com), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front quoted an unnamed religious leader as saying that the civilian “ran amuck and attacked the detachment." It said the civilian was armed with an M-16 rifle.

The MILF said the civilian ran amuck “because of his hatred and anger toward the military" assigned in the area. It said four of the slain soldiers were former Moro National Liberation Front rebels who were integrated into the ranks of the military.

Torres dismissed other reports that indicated that it was a soldier who ran amuck and triggered the incident. “I’ve been hearing a lot of conflicting statements. Let us
just wait for the results of the investigation…Its still under investigation," he said.

The Army spokesman said the investigation is being spearheaded by the 104th Brigade based in Jolo town, also in Sulu. “Let us refer to it as a shooting incident…while the investigation is still ongoing," he said.

Torres said the remaining troops assigned with the company at the time of the incident are being recalled to the battalion headquarters in Bud Datu “to support the ongoing investigation." He said he will issue another statement on the matter soon.- GMANews.TV

GMA News

The Army caught with its pants down?, this in addition to the NPA raid in Davao.

Complacency kills, gentlemen.

goodness! :headbang:


Drunken trooper responsible for Sulu carnage -- sources
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 03:39pm (Mla time) 04/08/2007


ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A drunken soldier was responsible for the shooting spree inside an Army patrol base in Sulu that left at least nine troopers and a civilian dead early Saturday, sources said.

The sources said the drunken soldier, who had figured in an altercation, grabbed an M60 light machinegun and opened fire at other troopers at the patrol base of the 35th Infantry Battalion in Barangay (village) Silangkan in Parang town around 3 a.m. on Saturday.

The civilian fatality, who remained unidentified, was reportedly fetching water near the detachment and was hit by a stray bullet. But the sources could not say if the civilian was a man or a woman.

They said the amok was later overpowered and was under tightly guard at the headquarters of the 35th IB in Indanan town.

The military's Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) here remained tightlipped about the incident although Major General Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the Army's 1st Infantry Division based in Zamboanga del Sur, confirmed the deaths.

However, he stressed that as of Sunday, their investigation had not yet established that an amok killed the 10.

Pajarito, who has supervision over the soldiers, admitted receiving an earlier report that somebody ran amok in the detachment. "But when an initial probe was conducted, it was established that none of the soldiers went on rampage," he said.

He added that initial investigation also showed that the gunfire came from "an entrenched bunker" inside the detachment but they could not say who the shooter was or if there was more than one gunman.

"We want to know how it all happened. I have already ordered a thorough investigation. I want them to produce results if there should be someone held liable for this," he said.

Pajarito said they were also looking into the possibility of a suicide attack.

He said they were also trying to establish the identity and gender of the civilian.

"Until now, we don't have the identity of the civilian. Even the barangay captain, whom we requested to identify the civilian, said he doesn't recognize the person," he said.

Pajarito declined to identify the slain soldiers.

Senior Superintendent Ahirum Ajirim, Sulu police chief, said the police had been told about the incident but that the details were not clear.

a drunken soldier...MN integree?

heard that discipline problems are plaguing some integrated units.

These are among the outcome of the ill-advised if not stupid scheme of integrating the MNLF to the AFP.

When intoxicated the chances of pulling the trigger are great between the integrees and the original AFP soldiers because there are obvious enmities between them towards each other, when flasbacks of the past overwhelmed their minds that makes the incident not totally surprsing.

As the saying goes, "Cats and dogs cannot be friends even seen licking it's other".

a more confusing twist to an already confusing incident...


9 soldiers die in Sulu camp rampage
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 02:02am (Mla time) 04/09/2007


ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Nine soldiers and a civilian were killed in a shooting rampage early on Black Saturday at the patrol base of the Army’s 35th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Silangkan, Parang, Sulu.

According to sources, a drunken soldier grabbed an M-60 light machine gun during an apparent altercation at about 3 a.m. and started shooting at his comrades, killing nine of them. Two other persons were reportedly wounded.

The gunman was subsequently overpowered and was being tightly guarded at the 35th IB headquarters in Indanan town, the sources said.

The civilian, name and gender yet unknown, was reportedly fetching water near the detachment when hit by a stray bullet.

A day after the shooting, the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command here kept a tight lip on the matter.

But Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division based in Zamboanga del Sur, confirmed the killing of the soldiers and the civilian.

Only sketchy details could be obtained from Camp Aguinaldo in Manila.

The Army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, said officials had yet to determine what actually happened and who fired the first shot.

He said there was a power outage in the area when the shooting broke out.

“They’re still investigating the incident,” Torres said Sunday in a phone interview, adding that from initial reports, the civilian fatality had something to do with the shooting.

A Reuters report quoted Torres as also saying: “There was a firefight, an exchange of gunfire. When the battalion commander reinforced the area after it was reported to him, they were also fired upon.”


Troop pullout

Torres quoted a report from battalion commander Lt. Col. Jose Faustino, who visited the detachment in the aftermath of the shooting, that two other persons -- one soldier and the wife of one of the nine soldiers killed -- had been wounded.

“The wounded were immediately evacuated, while the fatalities were brought to the 104th Brigade headquarters,” he said.

He also said that at press time, the troops stationed at the detachment were being pulled out and “consolidated at the battalion headquarters in Bud Datu [municipality] to support the ongoing investigation.”

Pajarito, who supervises the troops, declined to identify the dead soldiers.

He quoted an earlier report as saying that somebody had gone amuck at the detachment.

“But when an initial probe was conducted, it was established that none of the soldiers had gone on a rampage,” he said in Zamboanga.


‘Entrenched bunker’

Per initial investigation, the gunfire came from “an entrenched bunker,” which is inside the detachment, Pajarito said.

He said the identity of the perpetrator(s) had yet to be established.

“We want to know how it all happened. I have already ordered a thorough investigation. I want them to produce results. If there is someone liable for this, then he should be held liable,” the official said.

He said the other angle being studied was the possibility of a suicide attack, but quickly added that nothing was certain as yet.
Pajarito said investigators were still trying to establish the identity of the lone civilian fatality and why the latter was near the detachment.

“Until now, we don’t have the identity of the civilian. Even the barangay captain, whom we requested to identify the civilian, said he doesn’t recognize the person,” Pajarito said.

The police chief of Sulu province, Senior Supt. Ahirum Ajirim, said police had been told about the shooting but that the details were unclear.

He said police were working with the military and the Moro National Liberation Front to determine what had transpired.

Al Mujahid Biao, co-chair of the military-MNLF peace monitoring ad hoc committee, said the only thing certain as of Sunday was that “no MNLF member was involved in the situation.”

“Until now, we are still trying to find out why and how it happened,” he said.

Sulu is a bailiwick of the MNLF, as well as the extremist Abu Sayyaf. But other groups, including the private security of politicians, are also armed.

As in other parts of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the proliferation of loose firearms remains a serious concern of authorities.


Intruder

A report Sunday by The Associated Press quoted Torres as telling radio dzBB that shots had rung out during a power outage in the camp, and troops from a nearby area rushed to the scene and found nine soldiers and the unidentified civilian dead on the ground.

“There was no power in the camp. Suddenly a firefight erupted. Some soldiers came but were also fired upon. They later saw the 10 sprawled dead in the camp,” Torres said.

According to an initial military report seen by AP, an unidentified civilian, believed to be an Abu Sayyaf member, grabbed the M-16 rifle of a soldier guarding the camp and shot him dead.

The intruder then managed to get hold of a light machine gun and opened fire, indiscriminately killing the other soldiers, until he himself was shot to death by other troops, the sketchy report said.

Pustahan tayo, dalawa lang ang dahilan sa patayan na yan:

1. bebot

2. kantahan sa videoke :banana:

These guys cannot even figure out a straightforward report and real picture relative to the incident.

Inaccurate report is always an obvious tell-tale of a cover-up and what make it worse is - a major incident like this that involved the lives of 9 soldiers, can turn into a pack of scripted garbage of hidden truth. And it's an absolute mess.

Philippine Army personnel drinking on duty? Is that allowed?

its the AFPs way of creating a "fog of confusion" :banana: