Troops clash with NPA, JI in southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 8, 2009) – Government troops clashed separately before sunrise Sunday with communist rebels and local Jemaah Islamiya members in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said troops and government militiamen clashed with New People’s Army rebels at around 4.30 a.m. on a village in Davao Oriental’s Banganga town. One militia and an undetermined number of rebels were killed in the fighting, said Lt. Col. Roland Bautista, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“One militia was killed and an undetermined number of rebels were believed slain and wounded in the clash,” he said, adding, troops recovered an M16 rifle, radio transceivers and combat packs from the fighting.

Bautista said another group of army soldiers also clashed with Jemaah Islamiya militants at around 4.40 a.m. in the village of Napnapan in Pantukan town in Compostela Valley province and capturing a Filipino bomb expert, Giovanni de Ocampo.

He said the captive admitted during interrogation that he is a member of the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya and is also an alleged commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Initial report revealed that he is a trainer and an expert in manufacturing of improvised explosives which has caused the death of many innocent civilians and destruction of properties in this part of Mindanao,” Bautista said without further elaborating, saying, security forces were still hunting down other Jemaah Islamiya militants in the province.

There were no reports of military casualties in both clashes.

The MILF has denied the military report and disowned De Ocampo. “We have repeatedly denounced terrorism and the MILF has nothing to do with the Jemaah Islamiya,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past decades for independence in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops kill NPA commander; capture rebel base in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 15, 2008) – Philippine troops killed a communist rebel commander in a clash in the southern region of Mindanao, officials said Monday.

Officials said soldiers also overran a rebel base of the New People's Army in the village of Tamayong in Calinan district in Davao City.

The weekend fighting killed Faustino Libot, leader of an NPA assassination unit called Sparrow, said Col. Roland Baustista, spokesman for the Army's 10th Infantry Division.

"Troops killed Libot in the fighting in Calinan and we recovered his M16 rifle. We also captured an NPA rebel base in the area," he said.

Baustista said the operation against the NPA still continue in the outskirts of Davao City, where the rebels are active.

The NPA is holding First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo since November 7 after rebel forces attacked his unit and killed two soldiers and a government militia in a fierce firefight in Casoon village in the town of Monkayo in Compostela Valley province.

Aside from Cammayo, the rebels also captured Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, a member of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group, who was arrested on November 5 by the NPA at a checkpoint in the village of Baogo in Davao Oriental's Caraga town.

The NPA said both Cammayo and Tumol are being investigated for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to the operations of the Special Forces and the Provincial Mobile Group in Mindanao.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement ending hostilities in the countryside. (Mindanao Examiner)

Three NPA Rebels Killed In South RP Clash

Police crime investigators take fingerprints of slain rebels in Compostela Valley province in southern Philippines. Three New People's Army rebels are killed in two days of sporadic fighting in the province. (Army Brigade Photo)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 13, 2008) – Government soldiers killed at least three communist rebels and wounded a still undetermined number of gunmen in two days of sporadic clashes in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.

Officials said fresh fighting erupted on Tuesday in Compostela Valley barely a day after government soldiers killed two rebels in two separate clashes in the province, a known stronghold of the New People’s Army (NPA), blamed for the spate of attacks on government and military targets in recent weeks.

“Three rebels were killed in the fighting and many are believed wounded in the clashes. We have no casualties and the government offensives still continue in the area,” a local army commander, Colonel Roland Bautista, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said soldiers recovered the bodies of the slain rebels, including weapons and medical kits left behind by the fleeing NPA gunmen.

Bautista said the rebels were behind the series of attacks on military forces and mining sites in Compostela Valley. “The NPA is also engaged in extortion activities, victimizing innocent people and the military operations are hampering all these,” he said.

He also accused militant groups of supporting the NPA. “This is the reason why left-leaning, cause-oriented groups are putting pressure to the military to stop the military operations in the province to allow unhampered movements of rebels who are extorting money from innocent civilians and traders,” he said.

Bautista did not identify these groups, but said the military will continue its operations and finish off the NPA.

“We will finish them off to free the people from the bondage of abuses and atrocities of the NPA in Compostela Valley and other areas in Mindanao. We want peace to reign and civilians are supporting us in this campaign,” he said.

Just last week, NPA rebels freed two captured government soldiers and warned of more attacks in the province.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said the duo - Napoleon Gerasmio and Huberto Corbita - were released 12 days later after their families appealed to the NPA to spare the lives of the soldiers.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)