Ex-NPA rebel killed, 2 soldiers wounded in Compostela Valley ambush

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines – A former communist rebel was killed and two soldiers, including an officer, were wounded when gunmen ambushed their vehicle in Montevista, Compostela Valley, on Sunday morning, the military said.

Capt. Ariel Lobusta and a soldier identified only as Private First Class Pajal suffered gunshot wounds in the legs after suspected New People’s Army guerrillas fired at their pickup truck at Sitio (sub-village) Sto. Niño, Barangay (village) Poblacion around 9:45 a.m., according to Capt. Rey Vergel Geslaga, information officer of the Army’s 1001st Infantry Brigade based in Maco, Compostela Valley.

An officer from the 10th Civil-Military Operations Battalion, Lobusta and four others escorted an NPA rebel who had just surrendered when five suspected rebels opened fire using M-16 assault rifles, Geslaga said.

“The suspects concealed themselves by the side of the road and fired at the pickup truck. In the course of the ensuing commotion, a rebel returnee who went along with the soldiers ran out of the vehicle and was hit in the hail of gunfire,” Geslaga told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by mobile phone, adding the assailants fled on foot after the clash.

The army spokesperson did not identify the slain ex-rebel.

He said the wounded soldiers were rushed to Davao Regional Hospital here for treatment while pursuit operations were launched against the perpetrators.