LEGAZPI CITY — Government soldiers clashed with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Friday, in Donsol town in Sorsogon province.
Captain Frank Roldan, public affairs office chief of the Philippine Army’s 9th Infantry Division, said in a report Saturday, April 1, that the 31st Infantry Battalion had a five-minute firefight around 6:30 p.m. with NPA rebels in Barangay Tongdol.
Roldan said the operation was a response to citizens’ reports on the presence of the rebels in the area.
No one was hurt on the government side during the encounter, he added.
A series of armed encounters between government troops and NPA rebels erupted in Masbate and Camarines Sur provinces between March 20 and March 30. A soldier was killed while four other government troops and a civilian were wounded in Masbate bombings and encounters.
Earlier in a statement, Luz del Mar, spokesperson of Jose Rapsing Command – Bagong Hukbong Bayan Masbate, said the operations in the province were launched as part of the 54th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines on March 29.
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