MILF releases initial findings on Basilan beheadings, call for int'l probe

The investigating team of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) released its initial findings Monday on the encounter between its freedom fighters and Philippine Marines last July 10.

This as the MILF leadership calls for international human rights groups to conduct a probe on the beheading of 11 Marines.

"The extent of barbarity to the dead Marines -- and to Imam Alkanul -- must be investigated, so that whoever were responsible must answer for their crimes," Muhammad Ameen, head of the MILF Secretariat, said.

The MILF investigating team was composed right after the beheading incident, which it considered a grave violation of Islam, the Geneva Conventions, and existing policies of the Front.

Some of the findings they noted were:

1. That the Marines entered Ginanta, Al-Barkah, where the MILF forces are located and known to the government, and a firefight ensued immediately.  The group said the fighting was directly initiated and provoked by the Philippine Marines and moreover, that there was no ambush but a legitimate eight-hour encounter;

2. That after the encounter, before they left, they conducted a clearing operation and they found and body counted 23 Marines dead, as above stated, and not one was beheaded;

The MILF investigating team will conduct further probe into the beheading of the Marines. 

Commander Musawwarin Abubakar, chief of the MILF 114 Base Command, said that doing barbaric act to a fallen "enemy" is a crime against Islam, humanity, and the rules of engagement promulgated by the MILF General Staff.

"Only Hitler’s manic personality would do such a dastardly act and we condemn this beheading at the strongest terms possible," he stressed.