THEY KEPT COMING’ A soldier carries a wounded comrade airlifted by helicopter from Al-Barka, Basilan, for treatment in Zamboanga City on Tuesday. At least 19 soldiers of the Special Action Forces were killed in a clash with Moro rebels. A survivor of the ambush said they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. AP
Hundreds of government troops have been killed in violent clashes with insurgents over the past decade.
July 28, 2011, five of the seven Marines, who were killed during a battle with Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu, were beheaded. Twenty-five other Marines were wounded in the fight.
Dec. 14, 2010, two days before the Christmas ceasefire, 10 Army soldiers were killed during an encounter with communist rebels in Northern Samar. A 9-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire, while two others were wounded.
Aug. 12, 2009, 23 soldiers, including two junior officers, were killed in a gun battle in Zamboanga, the military’s worst loss ever in a single engagement with the Abu Sayyaf.
Aug. 18, 2007, 15 Marines died while attempting to take over a major encampment of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. After almost nine hours of close combat, the Abu Sayyaf camp in Silangkum, Unkaya Pukan, was taken by government forces.
Aug. 9, 2007, 26 soldiers were killed in clashes with Moro guerrillas in Sulu. The fatalities included 10 soldiers killed during an ambush in Maimbung while 15 more soldiers were killed in a separate gun battle hours later. The military said the attackers included Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue elements within the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
July 10, 2007, 14 Marines were killed, 10 of them beheaded, in Al-Barka, Basilan, after being ambushed by some 400 Abu Sayyaf bandits and MILF guerrillas while searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.
Feb. 7, 2005, followers of MNLF leader Nur Misuari, attacked Army posts in Panamao, Sulu. Other rebels ambushed a military reinforcement in Patikul, killing 13 Marines and wounding 14 others. Gun battles between the Moro guerrillas and government troops continued for more than two days, leaving as many as 40 soldiers and 30 MNLF members dead.
Nov. 17, 2001, 18 soldiers were killed during an ambush by communist guerrillas in Compostela Valley.
Aug. 21, 2000, 16 soldiers were killed on the spot after at least 30 New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas fired on a truck carrying 28 soldiers in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental. One died later in a hospital in Bacolod City and seven others were wounded.
June 27, 2000, 13 soldiers, including a brigade commander, died after NPA rebels ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning to their base in Isabela from a medical mission.
May 7, 2000, 13 members of an Army Special Forces unit in Lantawan, Basilan, were ambushed and killed by Abu Sayyaf bandits while looking for 31 people taken hostage by the group in March 2000. The bandits mutilated some of the corpses. Inquirer Research
Source: Inquirer Archives