Two soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded in another military air strike that struck Marawi City on Wednesday, the second reported incident of friendly fire amid efforts to flush out Islamic State-inspired terrorists in the besieged city.
This is the second time that soldiers died in a “friendly fire” following the botched bombing run that accidentally killed 10 government troops last month.
“Investigation is being conducted to determine the circumstances surrounding an incident where an ordnance missed its target during an airstrike conducted at about 12 noon of 12 July 2017,” Colonel Edgard Arevalo, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office, said in a statement.
“Initial report from Marawi indicates that the bomb was 250 meters off target. The impact of the explosion caused the collapse of nearby structures,” he added.
Large debris from the heavily reinforced buildings accidentally hit two soldiers, who died immediately while 11 others sustained minor shrapnel wounds and are now recuperating in the nearby hospital.
The military vowed to immediately investigate the mishap.
“We are saddened by this unfortunate incident. We are attending to the needs of the families of our troops who died or were hurt,” Arevalo said.