DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Two soldiers were reported killed while three others were wounded when an improvised explosive device believed planted by New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas went off in Magpet town, North Cotabato yesterday morning.
Capt. Ernest Carolina, spokesperson for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the explosion occurred after the soldiers encountered a group of suspected NPA rebels believed responsible for the attack on a police station in Matan-ao, Davao del Sur last Monday.
The rebels reportedly fled to North Cotabato where government troops caught up with them in Magpet at 10 a.m.
Yesterday’s incident was the latest in a series of attacks by NPA rebels against government forces for the past two weeks.
At least 11 soldiers were also wounded when the NPA rebels set off a roadside bomb in Bansalan, Davao del Sur wherein three ambulances of the Philippine National Red Cross and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council were damaged.
Las Mondays’ attack on a police station in Matan-ao left two police officers and seven soldiers dead.
Another soldier also died last Tuesday in another explosion in Maco, Compostela Valley.