AFP condemns ambush of post-‘Nona’ response team in Samar

LEGAZPI CITY—The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday strongly condemned the New People’s Army’s (NPA) ambush on and wounding of at least two soldiers who were on board a convoy of military trucks that had just brought relief goods to typhoon-stricken Northern Samar.

READ: Alleged NPA rebels attack soldiers getting relief goods in Samar

The soldiers, belonging to the 546th Engineering Construction Battalion and 81st Division Reconnaissance Company were on a “humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations” (HADR) for typhoon victims when waylaid at the vicinity Barangay (village) Madalunot, Pinabacdao, Samar, the AFP said in statement e-mailed to the Inquirer.

“The NPAs are continuously and deliberately conduct atrocities like ambuscades against our troops who are only doing their job to assist in Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Response (HADR) Operations while securing peace and share the Christmas spirit,” Major General Jet Velarmino, commander of the 8th Infantry Division was quoted in the statement.

The convoy of three trucks—one M35 truck, a Mignon cilian hehicle, and a mini dump truck—led by First Lieutenant Fritz Perez and two personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development—were on their way back to Office of the Civil Defense-Eastern Visayas (OCD 8) in Tacloban City after transporting the relief goods to the typhoon victims when they were waylaid by an undetermined number of NPA rebels around 7:20 a.m., the military said.

Two soldiers were wounded and in the ensuing 15-minute firefight, the AFP said several rebels were believed to have either been wounded or killed.

Velarmino, in the statement, said the attack would not hamper the ongoing relief operations for the victims of Typhoon “Nona” in the Eastern Visayas area. RAM