PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 15, 2012) – Communist rebels killed a government soldier in a clash Wednesday in Zamboanga Sibugay province in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said an undetermined number of New People’s Army rebels were believed killed in the fighting that broke out in the town of Buug. The soldiers were in a reconnaissance mission when they ran into a group of rebels, sparking a fire fight that lasted over 30 minutes.
“One soldier was killed in the fighting. Government troops are still on combat operations at target areas in Sibugay,” Capt. Albert Caber, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said the fighting erupted at around 3.35 p.m. in the village called Compostela and that ground commanders reported an undetermined number of casualties on the rebel side.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA, which has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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