KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines – The military on Saturday reported that soldiers had killed one of North Cotabato’s higher-ranking communist leaders and one of his companions during a clash in Magpet town on Friday.
Capt. Danny Boy Tapang, civil military operations chief of the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion, said Noel Gulmatico, the commanding officer of the New People’s Army’s Guerrilla Front 53, and a resident of Barangay (village) Poblacion in Arakan town; and Rino Vinsom, 42, of Sitio Tagaytay in Barangay Mahongcog in Magpet town, were killed during a clash in an area of Barangay Bagsak.
The government did not suffer any casualty, he said.
Tapang said two high-powered rifles were also recovered along with the bodies of the slain rebels.
He said the bodies of Gulmatico and Vinsom had already been turned over the village chiefs of Poblacion, Arakan and Mahongcog. With a report from Eldie Aguirre
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