Attack spurs call for VFA scrapping<\/strong><\/p>\n By Julie Alipala First Posted 01:02:00 09\/30\/2009<\/p>\n ZAMBOANGA CITY-Two American soldiers and a Filipino Marine were killed early Tuesday in an explosion that went off as a US military vehicle passed in Barangay Kagay, Indanan, Sulu.<\/p>\n Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces spokesperson, said a number of American soldiers escorted by Filipino Marines had just inspected a school project in Sitio Laum Saing and were heading back to a Marine detachment in a US Hummer when the explosion occurred at around 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n He said it was as yet unclear whether the explosive was buried in the road or by the roadside. Two other Filipino soldiers were injured in the blast.<\/p>\n Brawner told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo that the slain Americans were members of the Seabees, the construction battalion of the US Navy.<\/p>\n The Sulu police late Tuesday released the identities of the two American soldiers and the Filipino Marine trooper, who were killed in the blast in Indanan town.<\/p>\n Senior Superintendent Alibuddin Esmail, Sulu police chief, identified the US soldiers as Staff Sergeant Jack Martin and Sergeant First Class Christopher Shaw. The Filipino soldier was only identified as a Private First Class Estrada.<\/p>\n Esmail said the police have yet to identify who was behind the blast.<\/p>\n Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago told reporters that the explosion should prompt the Philippine government to abrogate the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).<\/p>\n “Why are [the Americans] in an area where there are land mines?” said Santiago, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee.<\/p>\n She said the attack showed that the Americans were in “a conflict or battle area,” and “absolutely” proved that US troops were taking part in Philippine operations against separatist insurgents.<\/p>\n “What else can you conclude?” Santiago said.<\/p>\n Sulu is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group which, according to the Philippine military, is coddling operatives of the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.<\/p>\n The US Embassy in Manila is “still investigating the incident” that involved an improvised explosive device, according to spokesperson Rebecca Thompson.<\/p>\n No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the Philippine military and police have no suspect as yet, Brawner said in a text message.<\/p>\n Fire fight<\/strong><\/p>\n Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, disclosed that before the explosion, a 45-minute fire fight between government forces and unidentified gunmen occurred in Barangay Bitanag in Panamao, Sulu.<\/p>\n Dolorfino said there was no reported casualty among the troops.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s explosion was the second recent attack involving US forces in Sulu.<\/p>\n In the first, a grenade was lobbed at US troops unloading supplies at the Jolo pier. No one was injured but the incident became controversial because the Americans fired their weapons in the purported direction of the attacker, which was near a mosque.<\/p>\n Temojen Tulawie, the coordinator of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society in Sulu, said he saw the bodies of the two Americans in a military truck.<\/p>\n “They were white and they wore the usual light brown uniform,” Tulawie said by phone.<\/p>\n “While returning [from Sitio Laum Saing], they passed between Kagay and Bato-bato and that’s where the explosion occurred,” he added.<\/p>\n \u2018Big slap on VFA’<\/strong><\/p>\n Sulu police chief Esmail said a red alert had been declared all over the island.<\/p>\n “Although the situation has somehow normalized, we cannot as yet discount the possibility of another attack,” Esmail said.<\/p>\n But two hours after the explosion, suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits bombed a police outpost in Patikul town.<\/p>\n Tulawie said members and officers of various civil society groups in Sulu had been called to an emergency meeting.<\/p>\n He admitted that the situation was worrisome “because this is the first time a US soldier was killed in Sulu, and in an area where there was a fresh fire fight.”<\/p>\n He warned that US and Philippine troops “may launch offensive actions in the area although we still cannot determine who was behind the attack.”<\/p>\n Tulawie also said the attack was “a big slap on the VFA.”<\/p>\n \u2018Serving others’<\/strong><\/p>\n In a statement, the US Embassy said the explosion occurred at 8:45 a.m. while the American soldiers were conducting a re-supply mission for a school construction project.<\/p>\n The embassy and the US members of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines expressed condolences to the families of the killed and wounded.<\/p>\n “They lost their lives serving others and we will always be grateful for their contributions to improve the quality of life on Jolo,” US Ambassador According to Kenney, US forces are temporarily deployed at the invitation of the Philippine government to conduct activities such as training exercises, professional exchanges and civic action projects with the Philippine military.<\/p>\n Land mine around schools?<\/strong><\/p>\n Told of the US Embassy statement that the American soldiers were in the area to build schools, Santiago was incredulous.<\/p>\n “And Filipinos were so stupid to plant land mines in an area for a school where most of their children would go?” the senator said.<\/p>\n Asked if the incident would drag the US government into the Philippine conflict, she said America became involved “when [it] insisted on the VFA” 10 years ago.<\/p>\n Told further that US troops were arriving to help rehabilitation efforts in the wake of Saturday’s great flood, Santiago said any help was welcome.<\/p>\n But “I humbly contend that this is all part of psy-ops (psychological operations) to gather intelligence,” she said.<\/p>\n Santiago also said she had transmitted to Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Ambassador Kenney and the Presidential Commission on the VFA an approved Senate resolution seeking a review or renegotiation of the agreement.<\/p>\n On patrol?<\/strong><\/p>\n At the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo agreed that the explosion “proves that [the Americans] were in a combat area.”<\/p>\n “What was their mission there? Were they conducting a patrol?” Ocampo said.<\/p>\n He called for an inquiry into the attack, pointing out that the Constitution prohibits foreign troops from operating in combat areas.<\/p>\n Ocampo said the killing of the US soldiers could be a reason for American officials to retaliate against those they believed responsible.<\/p>\n “I am calling on the Americans not to take action,” he said. “The terms of reference of their participation must be clarified first.”<\/p>\n Ocampo echoed calls for a review of the VFA in order, he said, to prevent the Americans’ deeper participation in counterinsurgency operations in the country.<\/p>\n Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon, vice chair of the House committee on national defense, said the deaths of the US soldiers were a blow to the VFA and could lead to its abrogation.<\/p>\n Biazon said the government should not have sent US soldiers to combat zones where they would be put in the line of fire.<\/p>\n “Because of this incident, the fate of the VFA may have just been doomed. The US troops should be immediately pulled out from the combat zones now. Exercises should be suspended until this is thoroughly investigated,” he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Noncombatants’<\/strong><\/p>\n But Brawner said the slain US soldiers were working on “development projects” and were not involved in combat activities.<\/p>\n “The soldiers were in that detachment because of ongoing projects … Specifically, they were working on the 5-kilometer Kagay road,” Brawner told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.<\/p>\n He said that from information gathered by the Philippine military, the Americans were “noncombatants.”<\/p>\n “They were there to supervise the developmental projects in the area when they were attacked,” he said.<\/p>\n Brawner also said how the explosive was detonated, as well as its composition, was still being determined.<\/p>\n He denied that the explosive was a land mine, the use of which in warfare is banned under the Geneva Convention.<\/p>\n The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) expressed sadness at the killing of the three soldiers.<\/p>\n “It is with sadness that we learned of the death of a Philippine Marine and two US servicemen. What they were doing in Sulu-assisting Philippine military and local officials in undertaking civic engineering projects, protecting families and securing the peace, for which they paid the ultimate sacrifice-is important to the Filipino people,” DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya said.<\/p>\n With reports from Cynthia D. Balana, Leila B. Salaverria, Christine O. Avenda\u00f1o and Alcuin Papa in Manila<\/em><\/p>\n Source: http:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/inquirerheadlines\/nation\/view\/20090930-227582\/2-US-soldiers-killed-in-Jolo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2 US soldiers killed in Jolo Attack spurs call for VFA scrapping By Julie Alipala Inquirer Mindanao First Posted 01:02:00 09\/30\/2009 ZAMBOANGA CITY-Two American soldiers and a Filipino Marine were killed early Tuesday in an explosion that went off as a US military vehicle passed in Barangay Kagay, Indanan, Sulu. Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed … <\/p>\n
\nInquirer Mindanao<\/p>\n
\nKristie Kenney said.<\/p>\n