5 soldiers killed in NPA attacks, 9 others wounded

AT least five Philippine Army soldiers, two of them intelligence operatives, were killed and nine others were wounded in separate attacks by suspected members of the New Peoples Army (NPA) in Quezon and Davao Oriental on the eve of President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address.

Major Gen. Roderick Parayno, commanding officer of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in Tanay, Rizal recounted that a 10-minute firefight ensued when soldiers of the 76th Infantry Battalion led by Corporal (Cpl.) Panadera encountered about seven suspected NPA members while they were on patrol at about 5:30 a.m. on Monday in Sitio Bantigue in Barangay Cagsiay 2, Mauban, Quezon.