Mamasapano clash: what Wikipedia removed
The Mamasapano clash was a 2015 Philippine police operation against Islamist militants that killed 44 police commandos. The 2015 opening stated the clash is also known as the Mamasapano Massacre. Today’s opening, now dominated by an infobox of belligerents and commanders, carries neither name, though massacre appears 23 times elsewhere in the article. A reader today does not learn that the operation is also commonly called a massacre.
The word “siege” appeared 6 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. Today it appears nowhere in the article at all, references included. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| siege | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| terror | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| militant | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| islamist | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| jihad | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| massacre | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- A description of the wider Philippine conflict as fought against Maoist rebels, Moro rebels, and Islamists, dropped from the opening.
- A Filipino-language news headline about army involvement in the operation, removed with the passage it supported.
- The statement that the clash is also known as the Mamasapano Massacre, removed from the opening.
- The description of the operation’s target as a wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb maker, reworded.
- A sentence noting the operation drew attention for its high casualty count, reworded.
- A sentence describing the clash as the biggest loss of government elite forces, dropped from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2015 (revision 668796767):
Belligerents Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Philippine National Police Special Action Force United States Army Special Forces (allegedly) Armed Forces of the Philippines WESTMINCOM 6th Infantry Division Jemaah Islamiyah -linked militants Moro Islamic Liberation Front Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters Undetermined Private militias Commanders and leaders Benigno Aquino III Paquito Ochoa, Jr. Alan Purisima Getulio Napeñas Joseph Votel (allegedly) Rustico O. Guerrero Edmundo Pangilinan Zulkifli Abdhir † Abdul Basit Usman Amin Baco Ustadz Zacaria Guma Ameril Umbra Kato Bahnarin Ampatuan (allegedly) Units involved SAF: 9 units 84th Special Action Company (Seaborne) 41st…
2025 (revision 1297278933):
2015 shootout between Philippine police and Islamist militants in Maguindanao Belligerents Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Philippine National Police Special Action Force United States (intelligence, alleged ground troop support) Armed Forces of the Philippines WESTMINCOM 6th Infantry Division Federal Bureau of Investigation (allegedly) Jemaah Islamiyah –linked militants Moro Islamic Liberation Front Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters Private militias (allegedly) Commanders and leaders Benigno Aquino III Paquito Ochoa Jr. Alan Purisima Getulio Napeñas Rustico O. Guerrero Edmundo Pangilinan Zulkifli Abdhir † Abdul Basit Usman Amin Bacu Ustadz Zacaria Guma Ameril Umbr…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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