Troops capture NPA camp in Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 7, 2010) – Government troops clashed Thursday with communist rebels and captured an enemy base used as springboard for attacks against security forces in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted in Davao City, a known lair of New People’s Army in Mindanao. The fighting in the village of Carmen lasted for an hour, said Lieutenant Colonel Medel Aguilar, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division.

“The firefight lasted for one hour. We have seized their camp, including subversive documents and improvised explosives,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Medel said there were no reports of military casualties, but claimed several rebels were either killed or wounded in the battle.

He did not say what triggered the clashes, but the armed encounter occurred just five days after thousands of troops arrived in Davao to augment security forces fighting communist rebels. The troops, who belong to the 701st Infantry Brigade, arrived Saturday from Luzon Island.

The rebels are fighting for decades for the establishment of a communist state in the largely Catholic Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)