CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –– Government troops killed a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel on Wednesday in a 15-minute clash after they caught the armed group looking for food in a village about 50 kilometers from here.
Major Regie Go, public information officer of the 4th Infantry Division, said the soldiers recovered the body from the battle site in Barangay Besigan here, along with three firearms – two M16 rifles and an M4 carbine.
“The terrorists withdrew leaving behind their dead comrade,” Go said.
He said villagers had informed authorities of the presence of at least 10 NPA rebels, who went down from the mountain, asking for food.
The information was relayed to an Army platoon of the 65th Infantry Battalion conducting security operations near the area.
Barangay Besigan is only three kilometers from Barangay Tignapoloan, where the city government launched the Cagayan de Oro City Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Friday.