Civilian hurt, rebel nabbed after clash in Quezon

New People’s Army fighters in the Sierra Madre mountain range. AP FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY – A suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebel was captured in a hot pursuit operation after the fiery encounter in the Bondoc Peninsula area in Quezon province that left four communist guerillas slain on Tuesday afternoon.

Col. Lenard Agustin, commander of the Army’s 201st Infantry Brigade, said the captured rebel was a 26-year-old man from Barangay (village) Burgos in Mulanay town. He declined to name the rebel.

Around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Army soldiers led by Capt. Zander Khan Usman, commander of the 2nd Jungle Fighter Company under the operational control of 201st IB, encountered an estimated 20 heavily armed NPA rebels in Sitio (sub-village) Umagos in Barangay Mabunga in San Andres town, not San Francisco town as earlier reported.

Agustin said the battle site was remote and mountainous area located in the boundary between San Andres and San Francisco.

The NPA member was captured near the encounter site during the hot pursuit operation and is now under police custody for further  investigations, according to Agustin.

He said four male rebels were slain during the 30-minute firefight.

“We’ve yet to establish the identities of the dead enemies,” Agustin said.

He said the pursuing troopers also found a 22-year-old woman with a bullet wound on her left arm near the encounter site.

“We already have her identity. But we will still question her about her presence in the encounter site. Why was she there?” Agustin said.

The woman has been brought to the military hospital at Camp Nakar in Lucena City, Agustin said.

The pursuing soldiers have also recovered a total of six firearms – two AK 47 and 3 M16 rifles and one M203 grenade launcher – left behind by the retreating communist guerillas.  SFM