5 NPAs wounded, 6 camps seized by gov't forces in North Cotabato

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 7): 5 NPAs wounded, 6 camps seized by gov't forces in North Cotabato

MAGPET, North Cotabato -- Five communist rebels were wounded and hundreds of ammunition were recovered as the military seized control of six abandoned camps of the New Peoples Army (NPA) in the hinterlands of this town Thursday. Colonel Ademar Tomaro, 602nd Army brigade commander, said the military's 10 Special Forces Company and elements of the 57th Infantry Battalion have been pursuing a band of communist guerillas who have been mulcting from farmers in Barangay Mahungcog here. "The NPA forced taxation activities have forced civilians to cooperate with the military," Tomaro said in his report to the 6th Infantry Division. Tomaro admitted there was no body count in the NPA fatalities but civilians told soldiers that they saw some five wounded rebels being carried by their comrades away from the encounter site. About 60 families have abandoned their homes for fear of getting caught in the crossfire as the rebels retreated to their villages.

Colonel Prudencio Asto, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said Maj. Gen. Ronnie Ordoyo, 6th ID chief, supported the offer to the NPA of Colonel Tomaro to accompany wounded rebels from the mountains to the military hospital for medication. In the nearby village of Doles, Magpet, the soldiers also seized at least six NPA satellite camps straddling across several villages and there were indications the guerillas stayed in these areas for days prior to last week's skirmishes. Following Thursday's intense firefight, the rebels moved deep into the foot of the country's highest peak -- Mt. Apo. Tomaro has deployed more forces in Magpet to contain the threat of communist guerillas.

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