Military regrets children casualties in offensives vs Abus

COTABATO CITY — The military’s Western Mindanao Command (WMC) leadership expressed regret over the deaths of two children in an operation against the Abu Sayyaf in Tabuan Lasa town in Basilan and would want utmost prudence by its combat troops in running after the bandits.

Maj. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., WMC commander said collateral damage among civilians are usually inevitable in armed skirmishes but children casualties are something that they do not want to have.

“I feel very bad until now. I am really very sorry over the two. They were caught in the crossfire,” Galvez said.

He said the military operation was meant to capture Mubin Kulin alias Mulawin, who has been indicted before a trial court for his alleged involvement in several kidnapping incidents.

Kulin is reportedly a cousin of Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader currently tagged as head of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) for South East Asia.

Gen. Galvez said they got information that some 100 Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf guerillas were sighted in Tapiantana Island in Tabuan Lasa, Basilan.

While government troops were on their way to serve the court warrant against Kulin on March 8, more than 30 bandits greeted them with bullets, Galvez said.

The ensuing firefight “allowed the escape of Kulin and his men” and it was only then that the troops learned about the deaths of the two children, said Galvez, who led the Maguindanaobased Army’s 6th Infantry Division before his elevation to the Zamboanga City-based WMC leadership.

“We did not expect children in that place,” Galvez said, adding that they would help the families of civilians caught in the crossfire.

The slain children were identified as Nurmida Alha Abbi, 7 and Ashab Tawallah Abuhaip, 12, in a report attributed to Dr. Arlyn Jumao-as, executive director of the Save the Children from Armed Conflict in Basilan.

The report also revealed the deaths of two adults – Hadji Billamin Hassan and Nuruddin Musaddul Muhlis in the March 8 operations.

Human rights group Suara Bangsamoro condemned the military operations, saying it considered the killing of Hassan as “a case of extrajudicial killing.”

Suara Bangsamoro chair Amirah Lidasan, citing complaints from aggrieved kin, said Hassan was “still alive when the raiding team took him aboard the naval gun boat.”

Lidasan said Hassan sustained two bullet wounds in the chest, a deep wound in his shoulder and bruises on his face.

During the raid, soldiers sprayed bullets on at least three adjoining houses, hitting residents who were either asleep or performing dawn prayers, she said.