LEGAZPI CITY –– Four suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed in an encounter with Army soldiers in a remote village in Garchitorena town in Camarines Sur province Monday, the military said.
Captain John Paul Belleza, public affairs office chief of the Philippine Army’s 9th Infantry Division, said the still-unidentified rebels were killed in the firefight with Army soldiers on combat patrol in Barangay Toytoy around 11 a.m.
The slain suspected rebels were believed to be members of the NPA’s Guerilla Front Larangan 1 operating in Camarines Sur.
Recovered from the scene were nine assault rifles belonging to the armed group, four of which were from the slain rebels. The companions of the slain rebels immediately fled.
Belleza said government troops were still in hot pursuit against the fleeing rebels.