Rebels seize cop, set off bomb in ComVal

TAGUM CITY, Philippines–Communist rebels have again abducted a policeman in Compostela Valley on Monday and detonated an improvised bomb that left several people wounded, police said.

Senior Supt. Camilo Cascolan, Compostela Valley police chief, said Police Officer 3 Ruben Nojapa was allegedly seized by New People’s Army rebels who mounted a checkpoint at a village road in Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan town around 6 a.m.

The policeman is a member of Nabunturan PNP, although Cascolan did not say if the policeman was on his way to work when kidnapped.

Cascolan said pursuit operations were immediately launched by joint police and Army forces against the rebels, believed members of the NPA’s Front Committee 27 who fled on board commandeered vehicles to the hinterland frontier of Nabunturan and Mawab towns.

About 8 a.m. or two hours after the alleged abduction, a landmine also exploded in Cabidianan village, just several kilometers from the provincial capitol.

Cascolan told the INQUIRER there was a report that eight civilians and two soldiers have been wounded in the blast although they were still validating this.