Friendly fire killed 6 soldiers in Sulu? AFP probe on

MANILA, Philippines - Were six members of the Armed Forces’ Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) killed by friendly howitzer fire and not by Abu Sayyaf militants during heavy fighting in Patikul, Sulu last month?

Sources said this is now the subject of an investigation by a Board of Inquiry, which would determine if the incident would warrant the convening of a general court martial or not.

“What happened out there with our JSOG elements was a result of friendly fire,” one of the sources alleged, saying the six JSOG men were hit by 105-mm howitzer rounds that landed right in their forward command post in the outskirts of Patikul town.

Prior to the incident, another source said JSOG members were all set to reinforce elements of Marine Force Recon who were waylaid by Abu Sayyaf militants while conducting combat operations in the hinterlands of Patikul on the early morning of June 19.

In the first volley of gunfire, 1Lt. Roger Flores, the third-ranking graduate of Philippine Military Academy’s Masiglahi Class of 2009, was felled by the militants’ bullets. A number of his men were wounded.  

At the height of the fighting, the Marines, according to another source, called for fire support from higher headquarters. The fire support came in the form of the 105-mm howitzer rounds. 

But instead of hitting the Abu Sayyaf position, three 105-mm rounds directly landed on the JSOG’s forward command outpost, killing six and wounding several others.

“The troops were then readying to reinforce their ambushed Marine colleagues when the unfortunate incident happened,” the source said.

When the fighting ended, at least 24 Marines and JSOG men were officially declared wounded in action, some of them in critical condition and had to be airlifted to the Zamboanga City military hospital.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, the Armed Forces’ public affairs chief, confirmed the creation of the inquiry board to find out what went wrong and if there were operational lapses to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“The objective is not really fault-finding,” he said.