DAVAO CITY – Four army soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes with communist rebels in the southern Philippine province of Davao Oriental, officials said on Wednesday.
Capt. Alberto Caber, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the fighting erupted in the village called Aragon in Cateel town on Tuesday after patrolling soldiers crossed path with New People’s Army rebels.
He said troops from the 67th Infantry Battalion recovered two improvised bombs and three automatic rifles, including more than a dozen backpacks, left behind by fleeing rebels.
He said an undetermined number of rebels were believed killed or wounded in the fighting. “Four soldiers were wounded while a still undetermined number of gunmen were also slain or injured in the clash. Pursuit operations are still on-going,” Caber told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Caber said military operations continued on Wednesday against the rebels, but there were no reports of fresh clashes.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA which is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.
Just recently, a rebel spokesman, Rigoberto Sanchez said NPA fighters killed a policeman and three army soldiers in separate attacks also in Davao Oriental.
He said members of the 3rd and 8th Pulang Bagani Companies carried out two raids that targeted the 67th Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Platoon Public Safety Company of the Philippine National Police in Taragona and Baganga towns.
He said rebel forces seized two M203 rifles, four M16 automatic rifles, two M14 rifles and four automatic pistol and several military packs, including two cell phones. The attacks, Sanchez said, were part of a continuing offensive against the police and military, and Gov. Corazon Malanyaon, who is a strong military supporter.
“The two ambushes are glaring testament to the superiority of guerrilla warfare amid intensive enemy offensives in the region. The NPA attacks are conspicuous actions that further debunk the military and Gov. Malanyaon’s claim that Davao Oriental has already rid of the NPA,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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