(UPDATE) 3 NPA fighters slain in Camarines Norte clash
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:12:00 05/09/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- At least three suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas were killed in an encounter with government troops in Camarines Norte province Friday, Army and police officials in the Bicol region said.
A platoon from Alpha Company of the 31st Infantry Battalion engaged some 20 communist rebels in Alayao village, Capalonga town at around 6:30 a.m., Major General Jeffrey Sodusta, 9th Infantry Division commander and Camarines Norte police director, Senior Superintendent Noel Constantino, said.
The troops recovered the remains of the three rebel casualties, along with two M14 rifles and an M16 rifle, Sodusta said in a text message to reporters.
There were no reported casualties on the government side, he said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given security forces until 2010 to defeat the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which the military estimated at around 5,000 at the end of the first quarter of 2008.
Mark Ching, contributor
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