Army kills 3 NPAs in North Cotabato
Local News • 23:04 PM Fri Jul 6, 2018
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Google.com
KIDAPAWAN CITY – The military killed Friday morning three communist
rebels believed to be behind the roadside bombing in Magpet, North last month
that killed a soldier and injured five others.
Elements of
the 19th Infantry Battalion were conducting combat patrol in the
village of Don Panaca, Magpet, when they encountered at 6:45 a.m. today
undetermined number of New Peoples Army (NPA).
In a phone interview, Supt. Bernard
Tayong, North Cotabato police spokesperson, quoted Senior Inspector Jose Marie
Molina, Magpet municipal police chief, as saying that the clashes lasted for
about one hour.
Soldiers
recovered the remains of three slain NPA rebels, Tayong said, adding that the
soldiers also recovered an M-16 Armalite rifle, ammunition, back packs
containing subversive documents of intelligence value and other war materials.
The soldiers,
Tayong said, are still pursuing the rebels who fled deep into the forest of
Magpet, a town located east of the country’s highest peak – Mt. Apo.
No reported
casualty on government side.
On June 21,
elements of 19th IB escorting North Cotabato provincial government
medical team were subjected to roadside bombing by communist rebels in Barangay
Doles that left six soldiers hurt, among them Corporal Ronnie Gutierrez who
later died in a hospital in Davao City.