20 families flee sites of NPA-govt clashes

BACOLOD CITY: Nonstop combat operations of the 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) in central Negros have led to four separate armed clashes with New People’s Army rebels in the upland barangay (villages) of Sandayao and Trinidad in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, forcing the evacuation of 20 families in two consecutive days of fighting in Barangay Trinidad.

The encounters started on Saturday, and pursuit operations are ongoing, said Col. Michael Samson, acting commander of the 303rd IB.