Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed on Thursday to hunt down those who killed 14 marines and beheaded 10 of them following an encounter between Moro rebels and the Philippine Marines in the southern Philippines.
"The Armed Forces of the Philippines is duty bound to hunt down and arrest those who treacherously killed and beheaded the soldiers," President Arroyo said in a statement.
The marines on Tuesday were reportedly on their way back to camp after searching for abducted Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in southern island-province of Basilan when they engaged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces in a seven-hour gunbattle. The marines brought back four dead and 10 others declared missing in action were later found beheaded.
Arroyo said the MILF must either let government forces pursue Abu Sayyaf members if these were responsible or that they must themselves account for the killings before the ceasefire committee.
"If the perpetrators are Abu Sayyaf, the MILF must stand apart from these terrorists and allow their pursuit and interdiction by government forces. If MILF forces are culpable, then they must be accounted for by the Ceasefire Committee and be brought to justice. There can be no excuses or alibis for these acts of savagery," Arroyo said.
"The government will account for the perpetrators of this heinous attack in the line with the rule of law, through the mechanisms of the peace process," she said.
The MILF, for its part, condemned the beheading of the 10 Marines and denied that the group was responsible for this kind of act.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the Moro rebels are also "very much interested" to find out which group was behind the decapitation of the bodies.
Meanwhile, Philippine Marine Corps spokesman Ariel Caculitan said they will seek an investigation to determine "what really happened," and the participation of the MILF.
"Honestly we protest the manner in which our forces were killed. This goes against international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict," Caculitan said.
He said the Marines were on their way back from a mission to verify the Bossi's whereabouts.
Bossi was kidnapped on June 10 after celebrating mass at the coastal village of Bulawan in Zamboanga Sibugay province in the southern Philippines.
The Italian was the second foreigner to be abducted in the southern Philippines within 10 days. On May 31, a Gernman national was taken hostage by gangs but released shortly after the MILF's intervention.
The government-MILF joint action group helps keep the ceasefire between government forces and the 11,000-strong separatist group in Mindanao. The MILF is willing to resume peace talks with the government, which was suspended one and a half years ago.
Source: Xinhua
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