DAVAO CITY – A 58-year old woman and a minor were wounded in a roadside explosion blamed by the military on Wednesday to communist rebels in the southern Filipino province of Compostela Valley.
General Aurelio Baladad, chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said New People’s Army detonated the bomb in the village of San Jose in Monkayo town.
He said the rebels detonated the explosive while troops were pursuing them. Troops evacuated the wounded civilians to hospital.
He said the civilians were fleeing the fighting when rebels exploded the bomb. Baladad condemned the attack on two civilians.
“We condemn the blatant disregard by the NPA of the safety of the communities by laying landmines in their midst. Where is their adherence to International Humanitarian Law as they always claim to respect?” he asked.
Government soldiers clashed with rebels in the village after an army patrol caught up with the NPA band. Soldiers also recovered three automatic rifles, a radio transceiver, a motorcycle and anti-government propaganda left behind by rebels.
In was not immediately known if there were enemy casualties, but no soldiers were reported injured or slain in the fighting.
The NPA has been waging a separatist war the past decades and peace talks with Manila had failed, although there were backchannel talks to restart the negotiations. The rebels have been demanding the release of all political prisoners and rebels jailed across the country as a condition for the resumption of the peace talks. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/ and http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/
Share The News
20
