Army soldier killed, 3 more wounded in Masbate firefight
NAGA CITY, Philippines – An Army soldier was killed while three others were hurt when suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels attacked a military vehicle loaded with soldiers who were responding to an earlier rebel attack in Mobo town, a military official said.
The attack and subsequent firefight at about 10 a.m. in Barangay Maingaran in Masbate City, the capital of Masbate province, was the latest of the series of rebel offensives since early Sunday that began with the rebels raiding the police station in Mobo town at 2:30 a,m, and the planting of landmines on the routes taken by responding policemen that had left a total of seven policemen wounded.
Lt. Col. Julian Pacatan, commander of the Philippine Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion of the 9th Infantry Division based in Milagros, Masbate, said by phone on Sunday that the wounded soldiers were brought to the Masbate Doctors’ Hospital in Masbate City for treatment.
The military declined to identify the slain soldier pending notification of his family.
