The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao (which is now Maguindanao del Sur). The operation, codenamed Oplan Exodus, was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Originally a mission to serve arrest warrants for high-ranking terrorists, it led to the deaths of 44 members of the SAF, 18 from the MILF and the BIFF, five civilians, and the death of Zulkifli Abdhir confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the PNP at 6:30 p.m. on February 4, 2015, through a matching DNA result. He was one of FBI's most wanted terrorists. Getulio Napeñas, the relieved SAF commander, estimates about 250 deaths from his assumption that each SAF sniper may have taken down at least 20 opponents from the combined MILF, BIFF, and private militias during the encounter although this was not confirmed and was met with skepticism since aside from the fact that there was no actual body count, there is no acceptable level of evidence to prove his claim. Napenas' estimate was also debunked by the MILF and by the local government of Mamasapano.
The mission itself was declared successful since the target was neutralized. The severity of the policemen's situation prompted the government peace panel to intervene and requested a ceasefire from the MILF. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also conducted a rescue operation to save the remaining 29 SAF survivors who were encircled by the enemies.
The operation caught the attention of the public for the relatively high number of police officers killed. The mission was called Oplan Exodus, initially misattributed as Oplan Wolverine by the local media. Oplan Wolverine refers to three of the other nine prior operation attempts targeting Marwan; Oplan Wolverine 1, 2, and 3 launched in December 2012, March and May 2014, respectively, by the PNP-SAF. The incident caused the Congress of the Philippines to halt the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, effectively endangering the peace process between the government and the MILF.
Incident
On Sunday, January 25, 2015, three platoons of the elite SAF police squad entered the guerrilla enclave of Tukanalipao, Mindanao, Philippines, with the goal of detaining two high-ranking Jemaah Islamiyah-affiliated, improvised-explosive-device experts, Zulkifli Abdhir (also known as Marwan) and Abdul Basit Usman. The SAF troops raided the hut where they believed Marwan was located, and the man they believe to be Marwan engaged them in a firefight and was killed. The SAF initially planned to take his body for identification. However, the shooting alerted the BIFF and MILF 118th Command in the area. The SAF had no time to retrieve the body so they just cut off a finger, took a photo, and left his body there. By 6:18 AM UTC+8 (PST), an SMS message was sent by the Commander of SAF 61D Battalion to SAF Director Getulio Napeñas that they were pinned down at coordinates 6.92489°N 124.52047°E. What followed was a bloody encounter that left 44 SAF, 18 MILF, and 5 BIFF dead.
On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, the FBI confirmed to the PNP that the DNA sample from the finger matched that of Marwan's brother detained in a U.S. facility.
A MILF spokesman accused the SAF squads of initiating the firefight, claiming that the rebels acted in self-defense, and proposed the continuation of the peace process.
Abu Misri Mama, BIFF spokesman, said that his rebel group's relationship with the MILF's 105th Command headed by Ustadz Zacaria Guma is positive. “We're all family,” Mama commenting on BIFF's relationship with Guma's unit. Mama said that there is no distinction between BIFF members and members of Guma's unit and claims that all of them are either relatives or friends of each other. It was reported that Guma's unit would engage other MILF units over disputes such as clan feuds. It was also reported that Guma is not on good terms with other MILF units which Guma views as "Munafiq", or hypocrites.