Senior NPA leader captured in Mindanao

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 11, 2009) – Army forces captured a senior communist rebel leader who has a string of murder charges in the southern Filipino province of Lanao del Norte, officials said Friday.

Officials said troops from the 55th Infantry Battalion and intelligence agents captured Elino Pagasian alias Eking, of the New People’s Army. Pagasian, who had a P1.2-million bounty on his head, was handed over to the police in Misamis Occidental province where he is also facing multiple counts of murder charges.

No other details were released by the military about Pagasian’s capture, but officials said there is an ongoing operation to capture other rebel leaders in the provinces.

The NPA is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Merlyn Manos)