DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 8, 2013) – Five government soldiers were wounded in a landmine explosion on Thursday in the southern Philippines, army officials said.
Officials said the explosion occurred in the village of Kauswagan in Agusan del Sur’s Loreto town where troops from the 26th Infantry Battalion were patrolling. The soldiers earlier recovered landmines and provisions left behind by communist New People’s Army rebels.
Kauswagan Tribal leader Datu Ronnie Tuga said the trail is a regular passageway of the villagers and school children.
“This is devastating. What if our constituents passed-by that area? They might have been killed, too. Even those that were unexploded would be very harmful to everyone us here,” he said in a statement sent by the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command.
Lt. Col. Jose Leonard Gille, the battalion commander, has condemned the NPA for using landmines in civilian areas.
“The landmines prove that the presence of our peace and development teams are necessary in Loreto contrary to the claims of Karapatan (human rights organizations) other militant groups. Despite the attack, we will continue our peace and development outreach program in the communities and ensure the protection of the community from harassment and intimidation of the NPA,” he said in the same statement.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said at least 16 bomb attacks had been launched by the NPA against military targets since early this year. And dozens of attacks on civilians suspected to aiding the military in the government anti-insurgency campaign in the region.
Cruz also criticized Karapatan for keeping silent with the NPA atrocities while trumpeting alleged military human rights violations.
“Why is Karapatan silent on the recent bombing incidents? Is it because the NPAs are the bombers? It is obvious now that the lawless tolerates fellow lawless. The NPA are the ones who laid these mines and some advocates are the ones supplying them with the components of the explosives in these attacks or they mutually support in the manufacturing,” he said.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA, which has been fighting for decades now for the establishment of a separate state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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