At the Big House Readers who are curious will find a detailed account of the assault on the Abu Sayyaf prisoner rioters here . The picture t...
At the Big House
Readers who are curious will find a detailed account of the assault on the
Abu Sayyaf prisoner rioters here.
The picture that emerges is that of a police unit (SAF) that has reached a
respectable level of competence but may be a little rough at the edges.
plans had been drafted on how to assault the prison, outflank the superior
firing positions of the gunmen and surprise them. Apparently to weaken the
resolve of the enemy, SAF commander ordered all lights inside the jail
compound turned off and the V-150 armored personnel carrier driven around the
area. This was done every hour on the hour until daybreak yesterday. "We
wanted them to stay awake and keep them guessing whether we would attack or
not," said the SAF official.
Then there was the less than perfect entry strategy. "The SAF raiders
positioned themselves at both sides of the main gate of the Abu Sayyaf cell at
the ground floor and tried to pry open the lock. But they were met by sniper
fire each time they tried to insert the key into the lock." Marines in
Fallujah learned that it was worth one's life to spend an extended period of
time making a breach; that if a lock could not be knocked in with a couple of
blows, perhaps a breaching charge was in order.
To cover their entry, the SAF raiders flooded the darkened corridor with tear
gas, breached and entered. The resourceful Abu Sayyaf rushed forward in the murk
to grapple with the SAF, in the hopes of seizing more weapons. But the SAF had
been trained to work in pairs and the grapplers were repelled. To complicate
matters for the assault team, the Abu Sayyaf locked up regular prisoners in
adjacent cells and had piled up flammable materials which they set ablaze in the
corridors, so the flames and smoke would lay down a protective curtain. It was
in this confused, darkened and choking atmosphere that Commanders Kosovo, Robot
and Global conducted their last resistance. 'Kosovo' was apparently one of the
grapplers and shot a raider in the face before being gunned down. 'Global' died
in a fighting retreat to the third floor. How 'Robot' met his end is unknown.
The left-wing Philippine
Inquirer, attempting to sound a note of seemingly sweet reason, says:
Their (the Abu Sayyaf ) deaths also mean that they have escaped trial and,
more importantly, put any information that they possessed irretrievably beyond
the government's reach. ... And the shrugging continued when other things were
pointed out, such as the dangers posed by having firearm-bearing guards in
close proximity to the Abu Sayyaf prisoners. ... Human rights activists, for
one, have been battling for years against overcrowding in our jails, which
puts underage offenders in close proximity to hardened criminals, and which
makes it even more difficult to properly isolate dangerous inmates such as
captured members of the Abu Sayyaf. ... The fact is that the Abu Sayyaf won
yet another round against the government. Its captured members died with guns
blazing, drawing the world's attention to their cause and their refusal to let
their detention circumscribe their actions.
For another view we must turn to Max
Soliven.
When the gunsmoke – and tear gas – cleared, the most notorious
kidnappers-killers-and-bombers were dead: the bully Alhamzer Manatad Limbong,
alias Bro. "Kosovo" who had been identified by Gracia Burnham as one
of their cruel kidnappers, suspected of masterminding the SuperFerry 14
bombing which killed 110 helpless passengers, and triggered off the motorbike
"bomb" in Magutay, Zamboanga City, which killed US M/Sgt. Mark
Jackson, and seriously wounded US Capt. Mike Hummel in October 2002; Ghalib
Andang, alias Commander "Robot" who had led the gang which kidnapped
foreign tourists and Filipinos from the Malaysian tourist isle of Sipadan, and
raped women hostages repeatedly, humiliating the Estrada government for months
and collecting millions of dollars in ransom; and Nadzmi Sabdullah, alias
Commander "Global", the noisy spokesman of the Sipadan kidnap caper.
Also slain was ASG detainee Hasbi Dais alias Lando, who had conducted the
Monday "negotiations" and rejected all the government’s calls for
the group’s peaceful surrender.
COMMENTS