7 Soldiers wounded in Basilan ambushed

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By JONG CADION

PAGADIAN CITY – A total of 7 soldiers from the team of 12^th Scout Ranger Company under the 4^th Scout Ranger Battalion, based in Brgy Bohe Suyak, Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan Province were wounded after they were waylaid by a group of lawless elements believed to be members of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

The said incident happened at the junction of Sitio Amaloy in Brgy Bohe Pahu of said municipality when the team was on its way back to camp at about 7:40 in the morning of Tuesday, January 22, 2013.

The government troops fired back to the attackers causing the enemies to withdraw after twenty (20) minutes exchange of fires. The incident wounded at least seven soldiers and undetermined numbers from the ASG as of this report.

104^th Brigade Commander Col Carlito Galvez immediately sent additional troops to reinforce the engaged troops and evacuated the wounded soldiers to Camp Navarro General Hospital at Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City..

“We suspect that this is the handiwork of spoilers, particularly the ASG who wanted to destroy the significant headway that we achieved from the successful meetings last 04 and 21 January 2013 in Baag, Guiong, Sumisip, Basilan,” Col Galvez said,

With the statement of Haji Dan Asnawi, that bloody wars between the MILF and AFP is already over and we had to start our new journey towards peace. With this, the ASG wanted to make a strong statement that they are still around and wanted the AFP to act indiscriminately and impair the ongoing peace talks, the 104^th Brigade commander disclosed.

“104^th Brigade will prudently observe maximum restraint while planning jointly with the LGUs and MILF on how we can finally eradicate the ASG menace and violent attacks that greatly affect the relative peace that we had achieved from the Bangsamoro Agreement,” Col Galvez added.