MANILA, Philippines, March 29 (UPI) -- The Philippine government is questioning Iraq's military over reports that Filipinos were among insurgents killed in an assault in central Iraq last week.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad was attempting to confirm reports that Filipino Muslims were among 85 suspected insurgents killed when Iraqi commandos assaulted a rebel training camp last Tuesday, the Philippine Star reported Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Rashid Feleigh told Iraqi state television that the dead included Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghans and Arabs.
Gilbert Asuque, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department, said Monday the department had no previous information about Filipinos entering Iraq to train with Iraqi insurgents.
A Philippine army officer said the presence of Filipinos in Iraq had serious security implications for the southern island of Mindanao, where a number of separatist groups are based, including Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have ties to the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
Many Filipinos fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, including Abdurajak Janjalani, who founded Abu Sayyaf in 1990. This is the first report of Filipinos involved in the Iraqi insurgency, however, since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
