LUCENA CITY –– Exiled rebel leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Wednesday congratulated the New People’s Army (NPA) in Eastern Samar for its successful attack on government forces last Monday.
The attack left six Army soldiers dead and 24 others wounded.
In a statement from his base in Utrecht in the Netherlands, the Communist Party of the Philippines founder said this was the answer to the repeated claim of the Army and the police that they have finished off the NPA.
He predicted that the membership of Maoist-inspired guerrillas in the country would continue to rise with the continued oppression, violence, and corruption of the Duterte administration.
Sison said the successful offensive in Eastern Samar would inspire the oppressed people and the NPA to stage more tactical offensives against state security forces.
He claimed that the communist guerrillas used “command-detonated” bombs during the attack, which was not prohibited by international treaties.
On Monday afternoon, six Army soldiers were killed and 24 others were wounded when troops hunting for NPA rebels, stepped into a field of land mines in Borongan City.
The report said three platoons of soldiers went to check information about the NPA rebels’ presence in Sitio Bangon, Barangay Pinanag-an.
After a futile search, the soldiers decided to return to their base.
But on their way back, the soldiers walked into a field where rebels had planted improvised explosive devices.
The rebels fired at the surviving soldiers and the 30-minute firefight ensued. The report said one rebel was also killed in the battle./lzb