3 soldiers hurt in clash with NPA rebels in Davao del Norte

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines—Government troops on Wednesday clashed anew with communist rebels in Kapalong, Davao del Norte, leaving three soldiers wounded, military officials said.

Troops were still scouring the scene of the encounter for possible New People’s Army casualties following a 30-minute firefight in the upland barangay (village) of Gupitan, said Col. Harold Cabreros, the commander of the Army’s 1003rd Infantry Brigade.

Cabreros said soldiers from the 60th Infantry Battalion were conducting combat patrol when they ran into an undetermined number of communist rebels in Sitio Aninipot around 9:55 a.m., sparking an intense firefight.

Wednesday’s clash was near the site of last week’s landmine blast and encounter that left two government troops killed and six others wounded, Cabreros told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.

The recent clashes in Davao del Norte’s frontier village with Bukidnon “only confirmed the presence of the illegal, abusive and violent NPA,” said Capt. Ernest Carolina, 10th Infantry Division public affairs chief.