DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday confirmed that 10 soldiers were killed in a government airstrike in strife-torn Marawi City on Wednesday.
The airstrike also hurt at least seven more soldiers.
“I got this report late yesterday that during the air strike conducted by the Air Force involving Marchetti SF-260 trainer jets… There were two planes flying and the first plane dropped their ordnance accurately, but the second missed and hit our troops,” Lorenzana told a press briefing in Malacañang.
He said the wounded soldiers were brought to Cagayan de Oro.
The incident happened as the military stepped up its use of so-called “surgical airstrikes” to dislodge militants from their positions while limiting the risks of hitting civilians still trapped in the fighting.
Some military aircraft were outfitted with precision-guided munitions for this purpose.
However, Lorenzana said that the Marchetti S-260 trainer attack jets involved in the incident were using conventional bombs.
But even then, he said, all previous airstrikes in Marawi City have been accurately hitting their targets.
Lorenzana said an investigation is already underway to ascertain how it happened that the first pass hit the target and the second pass hit 100 meters away where the troops were positioned.
“More than 100 meters is already far away. So there must be some mistake there. Either those people directing the bomb run on the ground or the pilot on the air,” Lorenzana said.
He said the standard operating procedure in bombing runs involved constant communication between the ground commanders and the pilot.
The coordinates of the target are clearly marked on the operations map and no troops should be in the direct flight path of the aircraft.
In the meantime, the investigation, to be headed by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Eduardo Año, would take at least three to five days.
Meanwhile, Lorenzana said the use of subsequent airstrikes in the operation to dislodge the remaining Maute group militants holed out in their last strongholds in Marawi City are up to the discretion of the ground commanders.
“I give those decision to the ground commander to determine if they still need airstrikes there, especially now that there are more troops operating on the ground and the chances of hitting our own troops is very big like what happened yesterday,” he said.
“And maybe we have to limit the air strikes to the aircraft that can deliver accurately their ordnance,” Lorenzana said. (pna)
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