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ZAMBOANGA CITY: Government troops clashed Tuesday with the New
People’s Army (NPA) as security forces continue to battle
communist insurgents in the southern Philippines, a military
spokesman said.
Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the
Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said Special Forces soldiers
battled with NPA gunmen in the farming village of Camanza in Davao
del Norte’s Asuncion town. “There were no reports of military
casualties,” he said.
Decapia said troops recovered an M14 automatic
rifle left behind by fleeing rebels. He did not say if there were
rebels killed or wounded in the fighting. The NPA did not give any
statement on the latest fighting.
Decapia said the NPA rebels have been on the run
because of continued government offensive in Mindanao, where more
than a dozen insurgents were also slain in sporadic clashes since
Monday in Surigao del Sur province.
Two Special Forces soldiers were also killed in
a rebel attack on Monday in Nabunturan town in Compostela Valley
province. The two were in a convenience store when rebels attacked
them.
The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist
Party of the Philippines, have stepped up attacks against government
and military targets after peace talks with Manila collapsed in
2004. The rebels were fighting for the establishment of a separate
Maoist state in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, an undetermined number of NPA rebels
torched a communication tower of Globe Telecom early morning on
Tuesday in Davao Oriental, military reports said.
Armed Forces Public Information chief Ernesto
Torres said the incident happened at around 5 a.m. when a group of
communist rebels entered the Banao cellular site at Baganga town,
Davao Oriental, by climbing the fence of the said facility.
Security personnel were helpless but were able
to prevent the rebels from gaining access to the equipment cabin by
refusing to give the keys.
The rebels instead torched the generator of the
said site before leaving.
Torres said authorities are still determining
the extent of damage caused by the rebels that are now being pursued
by members of the 67th Infantry Battalion.
In Compostela Valley, government troopers
encountered a group of communist terrorists resulting in an
undetermined number of casualties in the enemy side.
The incident happened at around 6 a.m. of the
same day while soldiers were conducting security operation in Mayaon
Village, Montevista town.
The soldiers chanced upon a group of rebels that
led to a brief exchange of fire, after which the enemy withdrew
taking with them their wounded comrades.
-- Al Jacinto and Jefferson Antiporda
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