By Francis Wakefield
A military official said Tuesday that at least 20 terrorists, including high-value targets, were killed in the airstrikes and artillery missions against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Daulah Islamiyah in Maguindanao.
Major General Cirilito Sobejana, the commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, disclosed that the Maguindanao operations lasted up to 12 midnight Monday.
Major General Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division (6ID) and Joint Task Force (JTF) Central (photo courtesy of Wikipedia / MANILA BULLETIN)
He said there are still unverified reports that commanders and subcommanders of the BIFF and Daulah Islamiyah.
Sobejana said they are still verifying the total number of casualties on the side of the enemy because most of those killed were unrecognizable.
“Our last encounter was around midnight. There are more casualties inflicted on the side of the enemy. Their bodies were broken into pieces that's why we don't have an exact number of body count," Sobejana said in Tagalog.
"But we have some reports that some of those who got killed in yesterday's encounter up to midnight last night has reached 20. We are still validating the figure and some of them are high value targets, meaning commanders and subcommanders, including Salahudin Hassan, Mauwiyah and Commander Bastardo."
Sobejana stressed that despite not knowing the exact number of fatalities and casualties, the most important thing is that they are partially in control of the stronghold of the enemy, and there are less number of fatalities and casualties on the side of the military.
He said as of latest count, one soldier was killed while seven others were wounded.