CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The military killed during an encounter Friday three communist rebels believed to be behind the roadside bombing in Magpet, North Cotabato last month that slew a soldier and injured five others.
A military report said that elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion were conducting combat patrol in the village of Don Panaca, Magpet, when they encountered at 6:45 a.m. an undetermined number of New Peoples Army (NPA).
In a phone interview, Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato police spokesperson, said the clash lasted for about an hour. “Soldiers recovered the remains of three slain NPA rebels who are yet to be identified,” Tayong said, adding that the soldiers also seized an M16 rifle, ammunition, backpacks containing subversive documents of intelligence value and other war materials.
The soldiers, Tayong said, are still pursuing the rebels who fled deep into the forest of Magpet, a town located east of the country’s highest peak–Mt. Apo.
There were no reported casualties on the government side, he said.
On June 21, elements of 19th IB escorting North Cotabato provincial government medical team were subjected to roadside bombing by communist rebels in Barangay Doles that left six soldiers hurt, among them Corporal Ronnie Gutierrez who later died in a hospital in Davao City. (PNA)
