3 soldiers killed in NPA ambush in Compostela Valley

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte – Suspected communist rebels killed three government troopers in an ambush in Mabini, Compostela Valley, Monday morning, the military said.

Lt. Vergel Lacambra, spokesperson of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the victims – two soldiers and a militiaman – were on a motorcycle on their way home for their Christmas break when they were fired upon by at least eight armed men in Barangay Caniduyan around 9:45 a.m.

“The soldiers were unarmed and in plain clothes when shot at … and they bore multiple gunshot wounds,” Lacambra said.

He accused the rebels of engaging in double talk with respect to ceasefires that the two sides had unilaterally declared.

He noted that the attack was carried out during the military’s month-long suspension of military operations against the rebels. The NPA has declared three sets of ceasefires: December 24-26, December 31-January 1, and for the duration of the papal visit on January 15-19.

Aris Francisco, an NPA spokesperson, said in an earlier media statement that the NPA would stage attacks when threatened.