DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 1, 2008) – Government troops clashed Tuesday with the New People’s Army 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 gunman in the farming village of Camanza in Davao del Norte’s Asuncion town. “There were no reports of military casualties,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
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 duo was buying at 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. (Romy Bwaga)
No comments:
Post a Comment