Roxas: 44 killed, 12 wounded in Mamasapano ‘misencounter’

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas on Tuesday said at least 44 police officers from the elite PNP-Special Action Force were killed during the 11-hour firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Sunday.

 

At a press conference, Roxas said 392 members of different units of PNP-SAF were confirmed part of operations in the area.

 

Of the number, 44 were killed and 12 were injured, he said.

 

He added that 336 PNP-SAF members have been "accounted for."

 

The PNP-SAF reportedly launched the operation in order to serve an arrest warrant against Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir also known as Commander Marwan and whose presence had been confirmed in the area.

 

On Monday, Mohagher Iqbal, Moro group's chief peace negotiator, stressed that the attack launched by members of the MILF against elements of the PNP-SAF was "self-defense" on their part.

 

Iqbal pointed to the PNP-SAF members as the ones who fired first in the clash, which also reportedly involved members of the BIFF, a splinter group of the MILF. — RSJ, GMA News