A long, slow procession of coffins draped in the Philippine flag poured out of military transport planes in Manila yesterday, as the country mourned dozens of policemen killed in a botched anti-terror operation.
Marching to muted drums, uniformed commandos bore the numbered coffins of comrades brought home from the southern island of Mindanao, the scene of the worst loss of life by the country’s police or troops in recent memory.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has declared today a day of mourning for the 44 men slaughtered in a cornfield on Sunday when their top-secret mission — to catch or kill one of the world’s most wanted Islamist militants — went badly wrong.
Photo: Reuters
The killings have sparked growing calls for retribution. Analysts warn this threatens a peace process aimed at ending the decades-long armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in impoverished Muslim regions of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
Relatives wept and hugged each other as a priest sprinkled holy water on the metal caskets, which were laid at an air base in front of a large national flag at half-mast. Cabinet officials and lawmakers watched from the stands.
“As president and as father of this country, I am greatly saddened that our policemen had to lay down their lives for this mission. Without question, these people are heroes,” Aquino told the nation on television late on Wednesday.
The president was absent from yesterday’s ceremony, attending another public event. His spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, denied suggestions the president snubbed the dead, telling reporters he was to attend memorial services at a Manila police camp today.
Two of the slain officers have already been buried by their Muslim kin.
Almost 400 police commandos had swooped before dawn in the operation to hunt down Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, a top suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings and one of the US’ most wanted militants, with a US$5 million bounty for his capture.
However, after killing a person they thought to be Zulkifli, the commandos came under devastating ambushes by at least two large guerrilla groups.
Aquino said most of the casualties were sustained after they ran into the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which signed a peace treaty with Manila last year, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, who are allied to Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Police say Zulkifli was killed in the operation, although there has been no independent confirmation of his death. Police said a second target, Filipino militant Abdul Basit Usman, escaped.
The MILF and civilians living amongst them suffered 16 dead or wounded in the fighting, said Teresita Deles, Aquino’s adviser on the peace talks.
The MILF maintains that it acted in self-defense and has vowed to pursue the peace process.
To cement the peace, Aquino has urged wavering legislators to pass a proposed law granting regional self-rule to Muslim regions in time for the end of his six-year rule in the middle of next year.
However, senators have warned the law is now unlikely to be passed by March as planned.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was