AFP, PNP troops clash with NPA rebels in Davao

New People’s Army. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) encountered around 30 members of the New People’s Army (NPA), Tuesday afternoon, a military official said Wednesday.

Captain Alberto Caber, Public Information Chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said the government troops from the 84th Infantry Battalion (IB) and PNP Special Action Force (SAF) were in a normal routine of monitoring Talomo Mountain in the upper portions of Barangays Baracatan and Catigan in Davao City when the encounter happened.

“They were conducting security patrols, the PNP and the 84th IB in the area when the encounter happened,” Caber said.

He added that the AFP and the PNP regularly conduct the operations to “protect the people in the area from harassment, extortion and deception by the NPA.”

During the 30-minute firefight, five members of the SAF and one member from the 84th IB and were immediately treated.

Caber could not provide a ballpark figure on the wounded rebels who retreated after the firefight.

Eastmincom Commander Lieutenant General Rainier Cruz directed all military unit commanders to continue their joint operations against the armed communist rebels.

Caber said that the operation against the NPA was not related to the earlier reported Davao terror threat.

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