COTABATO CITY – Communist rebels killed a pro-government militia and wounded four presidential guards in separate attacks Wednesday in North Cotabato’s Arakan town in the restive southern Philippine region.
New People’s Army rebels, who set up a checkpoint on the highway, attacked a convoy of presidential guards and wounded four of them. The soldiers, who were part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s security, were heading to Cagayan de Oro City when their convoy was attacked at a checkpoint guarded by rebels.
The ambush sparked a firefight, but there was no report of enemy casualties. The rebels also overran a detachment manned by militias and killed one of them while retreating from the fighting. Duterte earlier suspended peace talks with the communist group following a spate of deadly attacks on soldiers and policemen in the region.
The attack occurred just a day after rebels reportedly 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.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA on the ambush and raid on the house of Cortes. The daring attack on soldiers coincided with Duterte’s proposal to extend the martial law until the end of the year.
Duterte declared martial law after local ISIS militants occupied Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province in an effort to put up an Islamic State province in the region. Fighting still raging in the besieged city and hundreds of people had died from the violence that already displaced over 200,000 more. (Moh Saaduddin and Rhoderick Beñez)
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