3 NPAs killed in Sultan Kudarat, military says
SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines — Soldiers shot dead three more New People’s Army guerrillas in a series of clashes Sunday, they said.
The clash involved personnel of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion and 7th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Datu Wasay in Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat and left four other NPAs wounded.
Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said the slain NPAs were among the rebels whom units under the 603rd Infantry Brigade encountered earlier at Mount Lumuton in nearby Palimbang.
No fewer than 150 NPAs tried to converge at Mount Lumuton near Kalamansig to commemorate the 52nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines last Saturday.
Personnel of different units under the 603rd Infantry Brigade thwarted the supposed event with ground and air offensives, killing more than 10 rebels in ensuing clashes.
Senior members of the Kalamansig inter-agency peace and order council have confirmed to reporters that among the alleged NPAs killed were guerrillas from the neighboring Surallah and Lake Sebu towns in South Cotabato.
Uy said members of the 5th SF Battalion and the 7th IB were to surround a group of NPAs resting in a secluded spot in Barangay Datu Wasay, an upland area in Kalamansig, when the rebels noticed them and opened fire, sparking an hour-long running gunfight.
Barangay residents identified the three NPA fatalities as Cesar Anding, Ruben Alaza and a certain Edmund, who died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Col. Eduardo Gubat, commander of the 603rd Brigade, said local officials in Sultan Kudarat’s adjoining Lebak, Kalamansig and Palimbang towns are helping validate informaton that four NPA members, all adolescents, were wounded in the incident.
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