Suspected NPA rebel killed, soldier wounded in North Cotabato clash

KIDAPAWAN City, Philippines—A suspected New People’s Army rebel was killed while a soldier was wounded in a clash in Arakan, North Cotabato, early morning Thursday, the military said.

Lt. Col. Joven Gonzales, commander of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, said soldiers also recovered three firearms, alongside the body of the slain rebel, during a clearing operation at the site of the 5:45 a.m. clash in Sitio (settlement) Lombo in Barangay (village) Kabalantian.

Army chief Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz, in a text message sent to members of the media, identified the junior officer as a certain 2nd Lieutenant Malucon, the leader of the 10th Special Forces Company of the Southern Mindanao Command.

Ortiz said soldiers also recovered the body of a rebel while another was captured alive.

Gonzales said soldiers were checking on reports of a landmine buried in the area when they encountered the rebels. A soldier was wounded in the clash, he added.

The latest clash happened just days after Italian priest Fausto Tentorio was killed by an unidentified gunman in the same town last Monday.