Philippine Military Kills 10 of Its Soldiers in Errant Airstrike
An airstrike by the Philippine military killed 10 of the country’s own soldiers and injured eight others as the government struggled to take back the southern city of Marawi from insurgents loyal to the Islamic State, officials said on Thursday.
The deaths came more than a week after the military moved to capture an insurgent leader only to be surprised by a heavily armed fighting force of rebels who went on to seize much of the city, holding a Roman Catholic priest and several others hostage. Since then the government has been using airstrikes to try to drive out the rebels.
“A group of our military army men were hit by our own airstrikes,” the defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, said in a text message to reporters. “Ten killed and eight wounded.”
“Sometimes the fog of war,” he said in explaining the killings. “The coordination was not properly done so we hit our own people.”
It was unclear when the attack happened, or what type of airstrike was involved. The military has been using a combination of soldiers and helicopters in its effort to dislodge the rebels.
Source:- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/world/asia/philippines-soldiers-military-isis-marawi.html?_r=0
