By Villamor Visaya, Jr. / Philippine News Agency
CAMP MELCHOR DELA CRUZ, GAMU, Isabela – Some two New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed in a five-minute gunfight between a joint Army-police team and communist terrorists in the mountains of Tappa, San Mariano town in Isabela on Friday (Oct. 29), the military said.
Soldiers under the 95th Infantry Battalion and members of the Philippine National Police’s 1st Isabela Provincial Mobile Force Company chanced upon the rebels in Tappa village while conducting intensified military operations at the Diwagao Complex, a reported rebel lair, Army Capt. Jekyll Julian Dulawan, a 5th Infantry Division spokesperson, said on Saturday (Oct. 30).
The identities of the rebels, whose bodies were brought to a funeral parlor in the town, have yet to be verified.
One of them is said to be the squad leader of the Rehiyonal Sentro De Gravidad – Komiteng Rehiyon Cagayan Valley and the other is a member, the Army said.
Two M-16 Armalite rifles were recovered from the clash site.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA) – bny
