2 NPA hitmen, 1 Cafgu, 1 civilian dead in Eastern Samar firefight

TACLOBAN CITY — A former militiaman, two suspected communist rebels, and a civilian were killed in a firefight and subsequent operation on Friday afternoon in Sulat town, Eastern Samar.

Juancho Basad, a former member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) and his companion Winifredo Guballo succumbed to bullet wounds in their bodies.

The police had yet to identify the two alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who ambushed Basad.

Reports reaching the Police Regional Office in Eastern Visayas showed that Basad and Guballo, both residents of Barangay Baybay in Sulat, were inside a cockpit in Sulat’s Barangay Maglipay around 3 p.m. when they were approached by two alleged members of the Sparrow Unit, NPA’s hit squad, and tried to shoot at the two.

But Basad fought back, resulting to a gunfight. He managed to shoot dead one of the two NPA rebels before he and Guballo were fatally wounded.

The other NPA rebel was killed by pursuing operatives during a subsequent operation./lzb