PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 12, 2013) – Patrolling government troops clashed Tuesday with communist rebels in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur, officials said.
Officials said the fighting erupted on a village in the town of Kumalarang where troops engaged some 30 New People’s Army rebels in a running gun battle.
“The firefight lasted for about 30 minutes and there was no military casualties in the clash that left a still undetermined number of rebels dead or wounded,” Major Edgardo Amores, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division.
He said soldiers were tracking down the rebels who broke into smaller groups and escaped in the hinterlands.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA which is fighting for decades now for the establishment of a communist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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