GOVERNMENT troops overran a camp of the communist New People’s Army in Alegria town in Surigao del Norte on Wednesday morning, a military official reported yesterday.
An undetermined number of rebels were either killed or injured based on bloodstains found in their withdrawal route, 2Lt. Benjamin Elisand De Dios, civil military operations officer of the Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion, said.
De Dios said the battalion conducted security operation in Barangay Camp Edward after receiving reports that a group of NPA rebels was extorting food and money from residents.
The operation led to a firefight at around 7:30 a.m. against the members of the Sandataang Yunit Pampropaganda 16-C of the NPA’s Guerilla Front 16. The insurgents retreated after a 45-minute exchange of gunfire.
No one was killed or injured on the side of the military, according to De Dios.
On the NPA side, De Dios said: “There are undetermined casualties on the enemy’s side as evidenced by the bloodstains found along their route of withdrawal.”
De Dios said the seized rebel camp can accommodate around 50 people.
During clearing operation, soldiers recovered an M16 rifle with M203 grenade launcher, two anti-personnel mines, assorted ammunition and magazines, an Icom radio, three cell phones, eight backpacks and rebel documents of “high intelligence value.”
An NPA leader was arrested by operatives of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at a hospital in Tagum City in Davao del Norte on Wednesday afternoon.
Joel Montero Delahilba, the commander of the NPA’s South Regional Command Sentro de Gravedad operating in the Caraga region, was arrested at the Davao Regional Medical Center in Barangay Apokon at around 1:30 p.m. by virtue of warrants issued by Surigao del Sur Judge Lilibeth Ladaga for frustrated murder and attempted murder.
