2 soldiers, 3 communists killed in land mine attack

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Two soldiers and three communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed while 15 other troops were wounded in a land mine attack and clashes here, officials said yesterday.

Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesman Maj. Ezra Balagtey said soldiers were pursuing the NPA rebels who on Thursday detonated a land mine along the route of a convoy of troops searching for guerrillas who had earlier set a pineapple farm harvester of Del Monte on fire in Barangay Tawantawan, Calinan district.

Two soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in the blast, while two rebels died in the ensuing firefight, Balagtey said.

Hours earlier, NPA guerrillas harassed an Army detachment in Paquibato district of the city, triggering a clash that left one rebel dead, he said.

The military identified the slain troopers as Cpl. Michael Yadao and Pvt. Virnel Damondon.

Also on Thursday, suspected NPA rebels attacked a convoy in Marawi City, killing a military intelligence officer and his aide.

Maj. Jerico Mangalus and Cpl. Bryan Libot of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) were killed in a firefight with the NPA rebels in a remote village in Barangay Lilod Madaya.

One trooper identified as Cpl. Rolando Cartilla was wounded during the firefight, the military said.

Elsewhere, some 300 residents of Barangay Namal, a village in Asipulo, Ifugao province, fled their homes when fighting broke out between government troops and NPA rebels, officials said yesterday.

Lt. Col. Nicolas Quemado, commander of the Army’s 54th Infantry Battalion, said troops are chasing at least 40 heavily armed guerrillas of the NPA’s Nona del Rosario Command of the Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee.

He said the troops managed to seize the NPA camp in Sitio Imipugo following the firefight in Sitio Timapaya where a doctor, Ana Marie Leung, and nurse Isabelle Anne Ramos were among those wounded during the clash last Monday.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it has rushed aid and assistance to the families in Ifugao province affected by the fighting.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said five evacuation centers were opened to accommodate the affected civilians.

Taguiwalo said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are residents of Ifugao province are also giving donations to help the evacuees. – Jaime Laude, Rainier Allan Ronda, Victor Martin, Ben Serrano, AP