Communist guerrillas strike

again in Southern Mindanao

BUTUAN CITY: Undetermined number of heavily armed New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas attacked an Army detachment in Barangay Camanza, Asuncion, Davao del Norte, sketchy reports reaching the area command and operation center of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMincom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Sunday.

Field reports said elements of Camanza detachment of the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion fought back the NPA attacking column for almost an hour, until the rebels ran away in northeast side in nearby mountainous forested area in Asuncion.

The attacked occurred at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

“We believe that our ground troops inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy side as blood stains were found along the rebels’ escape route of withdrawal,” a regional Army spokesman said.

No reported casualty on the government side.

Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, area command chief of EastMincom, ordered the 10th Infantry Division to deploy more combat maneuvering battalions to beef up forces of 72nd IB, who are currently conducting wide pursuit operation against the fleeing rebels.

Chief Supt. Ricardo Quinto, Southern Mindanao police regional office director, deployed the regional and provincial mobile force to assist the 72nd IB by conducting blocking positions along the possible escape route of the fleeing rebels.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Jose Barbieto, area command chief of the Army’s Northeastern and Northern Mindanao Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division, mobilized his combat maneuvering battalions along the provincial boundary in Agusan del Sur and Compostela Valley, Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental to block the entry of fleeing rebels.

The AFP is conducting an all-out offensive against the 7,400 NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, who is waging a 37-year-old communist insurgency.

--PNA