Army, Rebels Clash in Catanduanes

San Andres, Catanduanes (29 September) -- Army soldiers in pursuit of the killers of a village youth leader clashed last September 28) with more or less ten suspected NPA bandits in Catanduanes, a military official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Aquino, commander of the Army's 83rd Infantry Battalion, said that a squad of soldiers, led by Corporal Rocky Bumalay, caught up with the fleeing bandits of the Probinsyang Yunit Gerilya led by a certain Ka James in Magsaysay village in Bagamanoc town at around 9:30 am.

Aquino added that a running gun battle ensued as the bandits scampered to various directions following several minutes of gunfight and dragging with them their casualties.

"No one is injured among government soldiers while they recovered an M16 rifle believed to be owned by one of the rebel casualties and three backpacks containing subversive documents," he bared.

Aquino also said that pursuit operations employing more troops are ongoing as of press time.

He said that civilian residents are updating the soldiers about the general direction of the bandits' escape route.

The military authorities in Catanduanes have launched continuous manhunt operations to arrest the rebels who shot and killed two village officials namely Jay Carlo Cameleon and Lando Tavar a week ago.

The two victims were accused as military informants by the rebels who are becoming weary about the accurate information fed to the military leading to the series of arrests and clashes in all of Bikol's six provinces.

In 2010, the Army's 9th Infantry Division has recorded 24 deaths among civilians as a result of the NPA's extra-judicial killings in the Bikol region. (DPAO 9ID PA/PIA/mal)