29 March 2005 – Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael E. Seguis reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo at 7:25 PM Monday, 28 March 2005 that there is no Filipino in the reported training camp of Iraq insurgents in the desert west of Samarra, about 100 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.

Undersecretary Seguis said that General Zihad of the Iraqi Interior Ministry informed him that no Filipino was found in the training camp that was the target of a military operation by Iraqi soldiers with the support of US forces.  “General Zihad said that a foreign insurgent with a Philippine-sounding name, who was captured during the military operation against the training camp, was mistakenly identified by the field commander as Filipino,” Undersecretary Seguis said of his conversation with the Iraqi official.

Undersecretary Seguis added that the Iraqi soldiers did not find any Filipino passport or identification documents pertaining to a Filipino in the training camp.

According to information obtained by the Department of Foreign Affairs, a clash between insurgents and a patrol of Iraqi Security Forces in the terrorist training camp on 23 March 2005 resulted in dozens of insurgents killed in battle.  Iraqi police commandos reported between 85 and 100 enemy killed, along with seven commandos.

The insurgents were camped in tents with boats nearby and fought from trenches.  END
 

/jay