Congress urged to probe indiscriminate firing by US troops

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin urged Congress yesterday to probe the indiscriminate firing of guns by US troops in the port of Jolo following an explosion Monday night.

“We are pursuing the complaints against those US military personnel to show them that we are not stupid here,” he said.

Amin urged US troops stationed in the island to show due courtesy to local authorities.

Before the explosion, US troops on board Humvee military vehicles closed the pier and prevented civilians and police from entering, he added.

Amin said it appears that a pillbox bomb caused the explosion, which happened at about 9:40 p.m. Monday.

They do not know how the pillbox was hurled at the American soldiers since no civilian or police was allowed to come close to the pier, he added.

Amin said US troops hurriedly left the pier after the explosion and returned later in full battle gear.

“It was a shocking and jaw-dropping scene, as if we were at war, and these soldiers did not even bother to coordinate with the local police and authorities in retrieving their things and the evidence that might be used in the investigation,” he said.

Amin also said that nobody from the Joint Special Operation Task Force-Philippines based in Jolo went to his office the following day to explain the incident.

In Manila, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita yesterday said Malacañang’s National Counter-Terrorism Action Group (NACTAG) has joined the inter-agency investigation into the attacks against US troops.

Ermita, chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Council, said the NACTAG has taken interest in the incident because of the possibility that the explosion was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf, which has links with the international terrorist network al-Qaeda and regional extremist group Jemaah Islamiya (JI). – With Paolo Romero