‘Friendly fire’ killed 6 JSOG men in Sulu, says military inquiry board

MANILA, Philippines - The military’s Board of Inquiry (BOI) has established that six members of the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) were killed by “friendly fire,” not by the Abu Sayyaf, at the height of heavy fighting in Sulu last month.

The board submitted this finding to Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista for appropriate action last Tuesday following a command conference of key area and field commanders at Camp Aguinaldo.

“Based on the BOI findings submitted by the Western Mindanao Command to the AFP chief, the unfortunate incident was a result of friendly fire,” said Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office.

Military sources on the ground earlier had disclosed that the six soldiers were blasted by a friendly 105-mm howitzer round that landed right in their forward command post in the outskirts of Patikul on the early morning of June 19.

This happened as heavy fighting was in progress between elements of the Marine Force Recon and the Abu Sayyaf headed by Radulan Sahiron in a nearby village that resulted in the killing of 1Lt. Roger Flores and wounding of 11 of his men.

At the height of the fighting, the Marines called for fire support from higher headquarters. The fire support came in the form of 105-mm howitzer rounds, with the wayward round landing and exploding at the JSOG forward command post.

“It was not intentional. This unfortunate incident which usually happens because of combat fatigue and confusion on the ground especially during heavy fighting, do happen with modern armies around the globe. We look upon our colleagues who were killed equally as heroes because they are out there manning their position as part of our ongoing anti-terror operations,” Zagala said.

Earlier, the six JSOG members were reported to have killed by a mortar round fired by the Abu Sayyaf, but military investigators initially tasked to look into the incident, recovered the shattered shell of a 105-mm howitzer within the blast site.

Zagala, however, declined to discuss details of the BOI findings, saying the board was convened to determine what corrective measures should be done to avoid a repeat of the incident.