Soldier slain, another wounded in Samar ambush by NPA rebels

TACLOBAN CITY –– A soldier was killed while another was wounded after they were ambushed by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Motiong town, Samar on Monday, July 6.

The soldiers, who belonged to the 14th Infantry Battalion, were onboard separate motorcycles on their way to the town proper about 7 a.m. when they were waylaid by 10 rebels, said Captain Reynaldo Aragones, spokesperson of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City.

The soldiers, he said, were part of the brigade’s community support program in Barangay Canvais in Motiong.

Aragones declined to identify the two soldiers to protect the privacy of their families.

One of the soldiers, he said, was hacked to death, the head severed, and burned by the rebels.

The motorcycle of the slain soldier from Nueva Ecija was also torched.

The other soldier, who suffered a gunshot wound on his left leg, managed to run away and sought reinforcement from their base in Barangay Canvais.

When the military arrived at the ambush site, the rebels have fled.

Aragones said the rebels, who staged the ambush, were led by Segundo Sison, leader of the Sub-Regional Command Browser of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA.

The wounded soldier is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.

Major Gen. Pio Diñoso, commander of the 8th Infantry Division, strongly condemned the attack, calling it “inhumane and barbaric.”

“We just hope that human rights groups will join in condemning the terroristic acts of this communist terrorist group,” he said.

LZB