2 killed in fresh NPA attacks in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 8, 2010) – Two army soldiers were killed in separate attacks by communist rebels in the southern Philippines, a spokesman for the New People’s Army said Tuesday.

Daniel Ibarra, of the NPA’s Front 27 Operations Command, said rebel forces mounted the offensives against the members of the 71st Infantry Battalion and 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion in Compostela Valley province.

The soldiers were part of a large security forces sent to fight the rebels who are holding three infantrymen and a militia in Mindanao. Troops arrived last month from Luzon Island to augment thousands of soldiers already deployed in Mindanao to defeat communist insurgency.

“The New People's Army Rhyme Petalcorin-Front 27 Operations Command hit twice the operating units of the 10th Infantry Division with sniper fire. Two successive operations by the NPA's Front 27 sniper teams hit the newly-deployed 71st Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Scout Rangers Battalion in Compostela Valley.”

“The punitive action against the abusive troops inflicted at least two casualties. The Armed Forces of the Philippines retaliated thru indiscriminate aerial bombardment using OV-10 Bronco planes which not only terrorized the civilian populace but also failed to hit its target,” Ibarra said.

He said the rebels are equally determined to fight the military.

Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division, denied the rebel reports, but said a government militia was killed in recent fighting in Compostela Valley province, a known stronghold of the NPA in Mindanao.

“That’s not true; the reports of the terrorists are all lies. But there was one militia killed in the fighting with the NPA in Compostela Valley. The military operation against the dissident-terrorists is going on,” Garcia said.

The NPA is the military wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines which is waging a secessionist war for decades now. (Mindanao Examiner)