6 cops killed, 9 wounded in alleged misencounter with Army in Samar

Six police officers were killed while nine others were wounded following a suspected  misencounter on Monday morning in Santa Rita, Samar, Police Regional Office 8 director Chief Superintendent Mariel Magaway said.

At 9:27 a.m., Magaway said elements of the 805th Mobile Company, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8 were conducting minor combat operations when it was fired upon by the elements of the Philippine Army's 87th Infantry Battalion in Barangay San Roque.

"Sabay nag-conduct ng combat operation ang PNP [Philippine National Police] at AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] kaya nagkaron ng encounter," Magaway said.

Major General Raul Farnacio said it was an "unfortunate incident."

"When you are in a highly vegetated area, it's hard to distinguish who you are up against," he said, adding there were no casualties among the soldiers.

"The other side also returned fire. We are still conducting an investigation to determine how these two groups came close to each other," Farnacio added.

A Special Investigation Task Group has already been formed by the PNP. —with a report from Reuters/RSJ/KG, GMA News