Army raid in Eastern Samar rebel camp kills 18

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — A military operation against communist rebels in Eastern Samar province on Monday, which left at least 18 New People’s Army (NPA) members dead, has effectively crippled the group, according to an Army official whose unit led the raid on the insurgents’ camp in Dolores town.

Maj. Gen. Pio Diñoso III, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, said the 13-hour offensive was the biggest in terms of rebel casualties and weapon seizures since 2016.

The bodies of 13 men and five women were later retrieved in the clash site in Barangay Osmeña, Dolores, where rebels allegedly manufactured explosives.

Diñoso said the bodies would be taken to the town center where they would be processed and identified. They would be given a “decent burial” in a local cemetery should no relative come to claim them, he said.

Airstrike

The clash started at 4 a.m. Monday when members of the 52nd Infantry Battalion attacked a rebel camp in Barangay Osmeña located 40 kilometers away from the Dolores town center.

Diñoso said the soldiers sought the assistance of the Philippine Air Force since they could not enter the area, fearing it might be surrounded with land mines.

“The [firefight] took so long because they were trying to protect a high-ranking leader,” Diñoso said, noting that no soldier was wounded or killed in the clash with at least 50 rebels.

He, however, could not say if the rebel leader was among the fatalities.

Diñoso also dismissed claims that civilians were killed in the encounter, saying the rebel camp was located 3 km away from the nearest populated village.

Recovered from the clash site were 29 high-powered firearms and several improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The camp, Diñoso said, has structures that could have been used for training, possibly for the manufacture of IEDs.

‘Tactical success’

Diñoso claimed that Monday’s military operations significantly reduced the number of NPA fighters in Samar, saying, “This is a big blow to the insurgency in the province, not only in Eastern Samar but in the entire Samar Island.”

He thanked villagers for leading the military to the rebel camp. He promised to protect locals, especially that they were expecting retaliation from the NPA.“I will call it [operation] a tactical success. It is not necessarily socially acceptable but this is like the final nail in the coffin to end the communist insurgency,” Diñoso said. “The insurgency situation in Eastern Samar would be at a manageable level.”

—WITH A REPORT FROM ROBERT DEJON INQ