CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 30, 2012) – Four civilians were wounded in an attack early Wednesday by communist rebels in the southern Filipino province of Agusan del Sur, officials said.
Officials said New People’s Army rebels opened fire on the military post in Binikalan village in the town of San Luis and wounding the wife of a soldier and a child of a pro-government militia.
The two were just visitors and asleep when rebels attacked the post, said Major Eugene Osias, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division. “The two civilians were rushed to hospital by soldiers,” he said.
But Army Lieutenant Colonel Juny DJ Castro, a spokesman for the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said four people were wounded in the attack carried by some 80 NPA rebels. The attack, he said, sparked a 30-minute running fire fight.
“The attack by the NPAs resulted to the wounding of four civilians, one of whom is a child who is now in critical condition at the Butuan City Hospital,” he said.
De Castro said rebels also carted several weapons after government militias abandoned the detachment.
“Since the enemy had no regard to the presence of civilians including children in the area, the CAFGUs (militias) manning the base withdrew in order to draw away enemy gunfire from the civilians,” he said.
The NPA is fighting for the establishment of a separate Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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