DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 26, 2011) – Government troops killed three communist rebels and captured a minor member in separate clashes Wednesday in the southern Philippines, officials told the Mindanao Examiner.
Officials said two New People’s Army rebels also surrendered to the military in Davao del Sur province where the fighting broke out. The fighting erupted in the village of Manuel Peralta in Malita town where troops captured a young female rebel.
“The encounter initiated by the troops was due to the public clamor on the recent atrocities committed by the New People’s Army rebels who murdered Datu Danwata in Malita town,” said Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Santiago, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.
Rebels killed the tribal leader, a known supporter of the military, early this month in retaliation for his active role in the military operation against the New People’s Army in the town.
Santiago said two rebels were killed in the town during a running gun battle. He said soldiers also recovered a firearm and an improvised explosive, including medical kit and anti-government propaganda, left behind by fleeing rebels.
He said troops also clashed with another band of rebels and killed one of them in the village of Manay in Davao Oriental province.
“The civilians are continuously providing us information and location of New People’s Army rebels and we are responding to their reports,” Santiago said.
The New People’s Army is the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is currently negotiating peace with the Aquino government, but despite this fighting still continues in many parts of the Philippines because both sides have not signed a cease-fire accord.
The rebels are fighting for decades for the establishment of Maoist state in the largely Catholic country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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