Las Navas (outlined in red) in Northern Samar (Image from Goiogle Maps)
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — A nine-year-old boy was killed after being hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) lobbed by alleged communist rebels in a remote village in Las Navas, Northern Samar on Wednesday morning.
Armando Remolde happened to be in the area where the soldiers belonging to the 20th Infantry Battalion were positioned in Barangay San Miguel when members of the New People’s Army threw an IED at the government troopers at around 9:45 a.m.
“Unfortunately, it was the boy who was fatally hit by the IED. One of our men trained on survival skills tried to revive him but he was already dead,” said Lt. Col. Juan Gullen, commanding officer of the 20th IB.
None of the soldiers was hurt.
Gullen said his men could not just fire back at the rebels because there were civilians in San Miguel, about 13 km from the town proper.
“We strongly condemned this atrocity committed by the communist terrorist group. They are so desperate that they did not even consider that we are observing the Holy Week,” Gullen said.
The soldiers were in the village as part of their community support program to dialogue with the villagers about their concerns. /atm