U.S. Marines Fire at Panama Intruders
Eleven Marine guards exchanged fire seven times with armed intruders at the Arraijan fuel depot near Howard Air Base in Panama, the Pentagon said Tuesday. No injuries were reported.
The incident Monday night was the fourth and most significant exchange of gunfire in the last month, a Pentagon spokeswoman, Maj. Kathy Wood, said. The last previous incident occurred Oct. 23.
From listening posts Monday, the Marines “heard movement, voices, and verbally confirmed the presence of armed intruders in the jungle surrounding the southern edge of the Arraijan tank farm,” according to another Pentagon spokesman, Fred Hoffman.
When verbally challenged, the intruders fired automatic and small arms at the Marines, Hoffman said. The Marines returned fire with their rifles and used illumination flares, the spokesman said.
He said there were six other exchanges of fire over a period lasting nearly two hours.
Hoffman said he does not know how many intruders there were or whether they were wearing uniforms. The matter is being investigated, he said.
Wood said there has been an increase in intruder activity in recent weeks, with incidents occurring almost nightly on at least one of the U.S. bases in Panama.
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