2 GIS, 1 FILIPINO MARINE
SLAIN IN SULU EXPLOSION

Written by ANTHONY VARGAS

29 September 2009 12:00 

MANILA, Philippines – Two American soldiers and a Filipino Marine were killed when an improvised explosive device went off in Sulu province Tuesday morning, the military said.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr. confirmed the incident past noon, about an hour after a ranking military officer first informed Dateline Philippines of the attack.

This is the first confirmed incident of American casualties in an attack in the southern Philippines, where the US maintains a 600-man contingent that officially provides local troops with technical assistance in the anti-terrorism campaign.

Sulu police director Senior Superintendent Alibuddin Esmail named the slain Americans as Staff Sergeant Jack Martin and Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Shaw. The Filipino was named only as a Private First Class Estrada.

In a statement issued by the US embassy hours after the incident, Ambassador  Kristie A. Kenney said the slain soldiers “lost their lives serving others and we will always be grateful for their contributions to improve the quality of life on Jolo.”  

The incident comes in the wake of fresh allegations that the American troops, who are deployed in the country's south as part of the Visiting Forces Agreement, have been engaged in actual combat operations in violation of the defense pact and the Philippine Constitution.

Recently, the American presence in Sulu also came under fire after US troops opened fire in Jolo, Sulu, hitting a mosque, as they reacted to what they perceived to be a grenade attack.

“This is the report that we received just this morning (Tuesday). At 8:30 this morning, September 29, there was an IED attack or improvised explosive device attack in front of the Philippine Marine detachment which is...between Luamsing and Kagay barangays, both of Indanan, Sulu. and as a result of this, two Us servicemen were killed, one Philippine Marines were also killed, and two other Philippine Marines (were) wounded,” Brawner said.

The text message from the source, sent before noon Tuesday, said: “On 290830H Sep(tember) 09, a landmine explosion in between Laumsain and Kagay Marine det(achment), Indanan hitting 1 US Humvee. Result 2 US soldier(s) KIA (killed in action), 3 Phil(ippine) Marines WIA (wounded in action).”

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. confirmed that the explosion caused casualties and that Americans were involved in the incident.

“They were going for an inspection happened, that's what the initial reports say,” Teodoro said.

Brawner confirmed this, saying the Americans were at the Marine detachment to check on several humanitarian projects implemented by US troops.

“So these US servicemen, from the data that we gathered, were noncombatants,” Brawner said. “They were, in fact, members of the US Seabees and they were there to supervise the developmental projects in the area when they were attacked.”

He said the two Americans “were not in combat” but were “escorted and they were being secured by members of the Philippine Marines.”

The US embassy stressed that American troops “are temporarily deployed at the invitation of the Government of the Philippines to conduct activities such as training exercises, professional exchanges, and civic action projects with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

Indanan town is where government troops assaulted what authorities said was the main camp of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu on the eve of Eid'l Fitir, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.