DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 29, 2008) – Police killed a New People’s Army rebel who shot dead a cop and captured two others after a firefight Wednesday in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao.
Police said the two arrested rebels - Randy Beltran at Robert Espaloga – are being interrogated in Pantukan town where they killed Hermogenes Lomooc, a member of the local police force.
Lomooc was on his way to the police station when the three gunmen attacked him at a bus depot. Policemen in the area chased the rebels and engaged them in a running gun battle until one of the assailants was killed.
The rebels were believed part of a hit squad called Sparrow unit, blamed for the spate of killings of soldiers and policemen in the southern Philippines. There was no immediate statement from the NPA. (Romy Bwaga)
