Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

World

Grief-stricken Filipino police chief says insurgents finished off commandos wounded in clash

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • c78b7cc4-
    Image 1 of 3

    From left, Police Director Getulio Napenas, lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre, lawyer Kristoffer James Purisima and resigned Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Alan Purisima, stand in prayer at the start of the Lower House probe into the Jan. 25, 2015, incident killing 44 elite police commandos known as SAF (Special Action Force) on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said Wednesday that autopsy reports showed some of the commandos were wounded but still alive when shot to death at close range by Muslim insurgents in a recent clash. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (The Associated Press)

  • 4a7585e2-
    Image 2 of 3

    Police, military and government officials stand in prayer at the start of the Lower House probe into the Jan. 25, 2015, incident killing 44 elite police commandos known as SAF (Special Action Force) on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said Wednesday that autopsy reports showed some of the commandos were wounded but still alive when shot to death at close range by Muslim insurgents in a recent clash. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (The Associated Press)

  • 2a4fa046-
    Image 3 of 3

    Police Director Getulio Napenas, wipes his face at the start of the Lower House probe into the Jan. 25, 2015, incident killing 44 elite police commandos known as SAF (Special Action Force) on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said Wednesday that autopsy reports showed some of the commandos were wounded but still alive when shot to death at close range by Muslim insurgents in a recent clash. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) (The Associated Press)

MANILA, Philippines – A Philippine police chief, holding back tears, says autopsy reports showed some of his anti-terror commandos were wounded but still alive when they were shot to death at close range by Muslim insurgents in a recent clash.

Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina told a congressional hearing Wednesday that the Muslim rebel group, which signed a peace deal with the government last year, should explain why its insurgents committed an "overkill" that left 44 of his men dead in the Jan. 25 gunbattle.

Espina struggled not to cry as he spoke during the nationally televised House of Representatives inquiry into the deaths of the elite policemen. The commander of the slain policemen stood up and openly wept over the killings in the clash that cost him his job.