THE military has launched an investigation into last Sunday’s ambush staged by members of the Daulah Islamiyah (DI) in Maguindanao del Sur that left four soldiers dead.
Armed Forces spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the primary objective of the inquiry is to identify and address possible gaps to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“We have conducted an inquiry on the ambush incident to be able to know the operational gaps and improve our combat effectiveness accordingly,” said Padilla.
At least 10 DI members waylaid the four soldiers in Datu Hoffer town in Maguindanao del Sur last Sunday in the middle of the celebration of Ramadan, the Muslims’ religious month.
The soldiers, coming from a market where they bought supplies for distribution to Muslim communities during the Ramadan period, died in the attack.
Padilla said the inquiry is being conducted by the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
“For every operation, we have an activity review for us to determine how we can improve further,” said Padilla. “We want to improve on how we do things.”
Padilla said the inquiry is not a fault-finding investigation, stressing it is meant to improve future activities to prevent similar incidents.
“Of course, we do not want casualties. It’s really very sad, it’s a well-meaning activity and yet this happened. We don’t want a repeat of that,” said Padilla.
