NPA confirms rebel killed in Mountain Province clash

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BAGUIO CITY – The New People’s Army confirmed on Monday that a rebel was killed during an Aug. 30 clash with soldiers in the Mountain Province capital town of Bontoc.

Noe ‘Ka Gilbert’ Magkachi was the lone fatality in the firefight at a ridge below Mt. Amungao, a few kilometers from Barangay (village) Mainit during an 11:30 p.m. clash that lasted for a few minutes, not the six-hour fight announced by the Army’s 5th Infantry Division last week, said Martin Montana, spokesman of the NPA Chadli Molintas Command in a Sept. 1 statement released on Monday.

The platoon of soldiers attacked the members of the Leonardo Pacsi Command, the NPA unit operating in Mountain Province, who were traveling back to their temporary camp, the rebel spokesman said.

Montana said Ka Gilbert was killed during the first burst of gunfire and is being honored as a martyr.