CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 31, 2012) – A grenade explosion at a clandestine explosives training by the communist rebel New People’s Army killed one person and wounded 11 others, including seven minors, in the southern Philippines, officials said on Tuesday.
Officials said an unidentified rebel was instantly killed when the grenade he was tinkering in front of villagers exploded. His companions, about a dozen, fled after the blast.
The incident occurred Monday in the village of Sampaguita in Bukidnon’s Kibawe town, said Army Major Eugenio Osias, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.
“The blast killed the rebel and wounded 11 people, mostly civilians, including seven minors who were 9, 11, 12 and 16, who were in that clandestine training. The wounded civilians were rushed to hospital in Maramag town in Bukidnon province where they are being treated for shrapnel wounds,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Osias said the minors were being brainwashed by rebels into joining the NPA. He said the rebels forced the civilians into attending the training.
The NPA, which has been fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country, did not give any statement about the incident or the recruitment of children in the province. (Mindanao Examiner)
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