Rebels ambush army troops, chopper hit in South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / April 11, 2010) – Communist insurgents ambushed a military patrol Sunday and opened fire on a helicopter trying to provide cover to security reinforcements in the outskirts of Davao City in the southern Philippines.

A rebel spokesman Simon Santiago said New People’s Army forces attacked members of the 69th Infantry Battalion in the village of Lumiad in Paquibatao District.

“Members of the 1st Pulang Bagani Company-New People’s Army ambushed the 69th Infantry Battalion. The reinforcement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a bomber-helicopter, was hit by the NPA and immediately retreated. Based on initial reports, NPA forces have recovered one high-power weapon from the enemy,” Santiago said.

Santiago did not say how many government soldiers were killed or if there was a casualty on the rebel side. Army spokesmen and their officials did not give any statement to the press about the rebel attack and ignored telephone calls from journalists.

On Saturday, NPA rebels also fatally ambushed a government soldier, Sergeant Marlon Salva, a member of the Philippine Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion, in Camantangan village in Compostela Valley’s Montevista town.

Earlier this week, seven soldiers were also wounded in a rebel ambush in the town of Magpet in North Cotabato province.

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)