Tuesday, April 06, 2010

7 soldiers wounded in NPA ambush in Mindanao

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / April 6, 2010) – Philippine Maoist rebels ambushed a military patrol and wounded at least 7 soldiers in the restive southern region of Mindanao, reports said on Tuesday.

The attack occurred in the town of Magpet in North Cotabato province where New People’s Army rebels are actively operating. Reports said the rebels used a landmine in Monday attack and that a firefight erupted between the two groups.

It was unknown if there were casualties on the side of the ambushers, who retreated to the hills after the fighting. A military truck was damaged in the roadside bombing.

Army spokesmen in Central Mindanao ignored telephone calls from journalists and could not be reached to comment on the attack. Military officials have previously trumpeted the government’s victory in the campaign against communist rebels in Mindanao.

The latest attack came a day after rebel leaders accused the military and politicians in North Cotabato of human rights violations and vowed to retaliate for their abuses.

“The people and its army, the NPA, will not take this policy of persecution sitting down. They have no other recourse but to fight back and defend them selves,” said Dencio Madrigal, a spokesman for the Valentin Palamine Regional Operations Command.

“Having failed miserably to hit the NPA, the operating soldiers have taken it out on the innocent and hapless civilians,” he said.

Last month, NPA forces also attacked a military detachment in the village of Luz in North Cotabato’s Mlang town and killed a government militia and wounded two more before ransacking an army detachment and seized 35 assorted high powered weapons.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a communist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

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