AGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 5, 2012) – Government troops killed two communist rebels in a clash Wednesday in the town of Leon Postigo in Zamboanga del Norte province in the southern Philippines, army officials told the Mindanao Examiner.
Capt. Alberto Caber, of the 1st Infantry Division, said a New People’s Army rebel and a soldier were wounded in the hour-long fighting that broke out in the village of Tinuyop.
He said the soldiers were sent to the area following reports that rebels were extorting money and harassing civilians.
Maj. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, the regional army commander, said civilians tipped off the military about the presence of rebels in the village. “This is another success of the people – in the spirit of Bayanihan – because we can always win in this fight against extortion activities and harassments by the NPA,” he said.
The rebels have been fighting for decades to topple the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
20