THREE New People’s Army (NPA) rebels died Wednesday and four government troops were injured in a firefight in Escalante City in Negros Occidental, the military reported yesterday.
The fighting broke out at around 11 a.m. Wednesday in Sitio Mansulao, Barangay Pinapugasan in Escalante City where troops from the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion conducted a combat operation, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID) said.
The soldiers were deployed to the area after receiving information that communist rebels, who are remnants of the dismantled NPA Northern Negros Front, were engaged in extortion activities.
Three soldiers and a government militiamen were slightly wounded in the fighting and were brought to a hospital, said 3rd ID spokesman Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines.
The rebels fled, leaving behind the remains of their three comrades (two males and a female), an M653 rifle, an AK47 rifle, a cal. 45 pistol, the 3rd ID said.
Pursuing encountered the retreating rebels twice near the area, triggering a gunfight. The first occurred at around 2 p.m. Wednesday and the other at 6 a.m. yesterday.
3rd ID commander Maj. Gen. Marion Sison said the “valuable information” provided by the residents was “instrumental in identifying and neutralizing the remnants” of the NPA unit.
Sison vowed the military will remain unrelenting in its efforts “to decisively end insurgency and bring about the shared vision of liberating Negros Island from the shackles of insurgency.” — Victor Reyes
