CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Communist rebels ambushed a military truck and killed an infantryman and injured at least a dozen soldiers and militias in southern Philippines.
The attack occurred late Saturday on a highway in the village of Kitubo in Bukidnon’s Kitaotao town where New People’s Army rebels detonated a roadside bomb. The soldiers were returning to barracks when rebels ambushed them.
The ambush sparked a firefight, but it was not immediately known whether any of the attackers were killed in the clash. The military did not release any statement on the ambush, but the police confirmed the daring attack.
Rebels have vowed to continue attacks on military targets as government peace negotiators failed miserably to convince the separatist group to sign a ceasefire accord and pursue talks aimed at ending the decades-old insurgency in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte trashed peace negotiations with communist leaders and abandoned efforts by his peace negotiators to convince rebels to stop attacks on government and military targets.
Rebels demanded the immediate release of nearly 500 political prisoners, mostly commanders and leaders of the New People’s Army, as a condition for the resumption of the stalled talks. Duterte already freed over 2 dozen communist leaders, but the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, said the President should have released all political prisoners.
Just last week, rebels killed a pro-government militia and wounded 5 presidential guards in separate attacks in North Cotabato’s Arakan town also in the South. NPA rebels, who set up a checkpoint on the highway, attacked a convoy of presidential guards who were part of Duterte’s security group while heading to Cagayan de Oro City.
The ambush triggered a firefight, but there was no report of enemy casualties. The rebels also overran a detachment manned by militias and killed one of them. The attack occurred a day after rebels swooped down on the house of Vice Mayor Emmanuel Suarez of Surigao del Sur’s Cortes town. Suarez and his family were unhurt from the raid, but the rebels seized several firearms and warned the politician to do something to stop illegal fishing and logging in his town. (Mindanao Examiner)
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