CPP/Ang Bayan: NPA launches intensive and coordinated armed actions

From Ang Bayan posted to the CPP Website (Mar 21): NPA launches intensive and coordinated armed actions

[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines and is issued by the CPP Central Committee. It provides news about the work of the Party as well as its analysis of and standpoint on current issues.]

Red fighters launched successive and coordinated armed actions in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Compostela Valley, Northern Samar and Isabela. Up to 24 soldiers were killed and several others wounded.

Butuan and Agusan del Norte. Eleven soldiers and five policemen were killed in three separate gunbattles in Butuan City and Carmen, Agusan del Norte on March 13-17. There were no casualties on the side of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Three soldiers from the 58th IB were killed when an NPA unit met with gunfire patrolling troops in Sitio Alicapawan, Barangay Manoligao, Carmen, Agusan del Norte on March 17.

On March 15, five soldiers from the same battalion were killed in a clash with an NPA unit in Sitio Minlangit, Barangay Rojales, also in Carmen town.

Three soldiers from the 58th IB and five policemen from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) who were among those who responded to a disarming operation were killed in an NPA ambush in Bonbon, Butuan City on March 13. Earlier that day, Red fighters disarmed two policemen of a 9 mm pistol at an NPA checkpoint in the same barangay.

Meanwhile, on March 14, an NPA unit disarmed a village chief’s underling in Barangay Cahayagan, Carmen, seizing a shotgun and a cal .22 rifle. The people’s guerrillas also confiscated a cal .38 revolver from an abusive ex-CAFGU element in Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Lunotan, Gingoog City on March 15.

Compostela Valley. Four soldiers from the 71st IB were killed and an undetermined number were wounded after being hit by command-detonated explosives in Elizalde, Maco, Compostela Valley on March 15. An officer of an AFP Special Operations Team in Paquibato District was also shot and wounded by the NPA 1st Pulang Bagani Company that day.

A policeman was also stopped at an NPA checkpoint in Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan at around 6 a.m. of March 18. The checkpoint formed part of the NPA’s regular operations in the area against bad elements and abusive Special Operations Teams operating under Oplan Bayanihan.

Currently under the custody of the NPA in Mindanao’s Front 27 is PO3 Ruben Magno Nojapa of the Nabunturan PNP.

Davao City. Three soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when Red fighters of the NPA 2nd Pulang Bagani Company ambushed a composite force of the 84th IB, PNP Special Action Force, CAFGU and the Lumad vigilante group Blackfighters in Barangay Carmen, Baguio District, Davao City on March 8. The people’s guerrillas were able to seize an M16, an M14 and rounds of ammunition.

Before the ambush, the composite enemy force had been marauding the villages of Cadalian, Tambobong, Tawan-tawan, Carmen and Tamayong in Baguio District for more than a week. This punitive measure was conducted to give justice to the victims of brutal military operations and suppress the 84th IB’s renewed use of the Lumad vigilante Blackfighters to sow terror in the area, said Ka Simon Santiago, Political Director of the NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Command.

Northern Samar. A soldier spy from the 20th IB who was masquerading as a civilian was killed in a military action launched by Red fighters of the NPA Efren Martires Command and the people’s militia in Barangay Roxas, Lopez de Vega on March 1.

Isabela. Four soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when a six-man NPA team blasted a patrolling squad of the 86th IB Charlie Company with command-detonated explosives at 1 a.m. of February 15.

According to initial reports, the ambush was followed by two other ambuscades in the villages of Gangalan and Casala in San Mariano town on March 7.

The 86th IB has been conducting a battalion-size military operation in two guerrilla fronts in Isabela since February 8.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20130321/npa-launches-intensive-and-coordinated-armed-actions