NPA rebels kill soldier in Mindanao clash

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2010) – Communist rebels killed a government soldier in a clash Thursday in the southern Philippine province of Bukidnon, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted after troops ran into a group of New People’s Army rebels in the village of Santa Filomena in Quezon town.

The fighting, which lasted more than half an hour, left a still undetermined number of rebels dead and wounded, said Army Lieutenant Colonel Triumph Bagaipo, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.

“The troops were on combat patrol towards when the firefight broke out that lasted for about 35 minutes until the terrorists withdrew. Santa Filomena is considered as a guerilla base of the local terrorist operating in the area. It is from this community that they get their much-needed logistical and financial support through extortion from sugar cane and corn growers,” he said.

Bagaipo did not say whether more soldiers were wounded in the fighting, but said troops had been ordered to track down the rebels.

It was the second fighting between security and rebel forces since Tuesday in northern Mindanao. Communist rebels also killed five army soldiers in a firefight Tuesday in the village of Fortuna in Agusan del Sur's Veruela town. The clash broke out after dozens of rebels attacked a military detachment.

The New People’s Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is fighting for decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)