Published December 05, 2015
Top Philippine military, defense and police officials say they were not told ahead of time about a Jan. 25 police commando raid that targeted one of Southeast Asia's most-wanted terror suspects and resulted in the deaths of 44 commandos.
Military chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang and other generals told a Senate hearing Tuesday that their lack of prior knowledge of the assault prevented them from rapidly providing help to the commandos, who became entangled in a clash with Muslim rebels in southern Mamasapano town and suffered one of the government's largest combat losses in recent memory.
A large Muslim rebel group that signed a peace deal with the government last year promised to return firearms taken from the commandos during the clash.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/top-philippine-security-officials-say-they-were-unaware-of-assault-that-left-44-commandos-dead