4 suspected rebels killed in Quezon clash

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY — Four suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed in an encounter with government forces in San Francisco town in Quezon province, Tuesday afternoon, an Army official said.

Col. Lenard Agustin, commander of the Army’s 201st Infantry Brigade, said troopers engaged a band of more than 20 heavily armed communist guerillas in Sitio Umagos in Barangay (village) Mabunga around 2 p.m.

Citing initial reports from the combat site, he said four rebels were killed in the encounter.

“There’s body count,” he said in a phone interview, but he said he had not received information on the identities and gender of the fatalities. No one was hurt among government soldiers.

Agustin said the soldiers also recovered two AK 47 rifles and an M16 left behind by the rebels who hurriedly escaped. Combined military and police forces are conducting hot pursuit operations.  SFM/rga