GMANews.TV - Monday, April 12
Three soldiers were killed in an encounter with communist rebels in Davao City on Sunday, a military spokesman said.
The soldiers, whose identities were withheld pending notification of their relatives, were earlier wounded in the clash but later died, according to Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command.
Cabangbang said the troops were on security patrol when they caught up with a team of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels under Leoncio Pitao alias Kumander Parago in Lumiad village at about 7:10 a.m.
The military dispatched MG-520 attack helicopters to provide close air support during the encounter, but the rebels were able to flee toward the hilly portion of the village.
It was the third setback suffered by the military in two months from the hands of NPA rebels, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants crushed before her term ends on June 30, 2010.
Last month, an NPA attack in Oriental Mindoro left 11 soldiers dead. An Army investigation discovered that there was a lapse on the part of the operating troops. Six soldiers, including two officers, were sanctioned for it.
Also last month, NPA rebels attacked and burned detachment in North Cotabato, killing a militiaman and carting away dozens of firearms. - KBK, GMANews.TV
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