Gov’t troops clash with NPA rebels in Cotabato town

Cotabato province in Mindanao (Image from Google Maps)

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Cotabato, Philippines — Government troops clashed with communist rebels in a 30-minute firefight in w, Cotabato province, on Monday.

Lt. Col Jose Regonay Jr., commander of the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion, said no one was hurt on the government side, but soldiers recovered an M16 rifle, personal belongings, cooking materials and antigovernment documents from the clash site in the remote village of Malibatuam.

Regonay said villagers reported more than 20 members of the New People’s Army seen in the upland area of the village, prompting the military to launch the operation.

Regonay said the rebels could be remnants of the Guerrilla Front 57 operating in Arakan and Antipas towns in Cotabato and in Bukidnon province.

He said the firefight was far from residential communities. He said the military had already “neutralized” the NPA unit operating in the Tulunan and Makilala towns in Cotabato and in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

—WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA

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