Troops kill 6 MNLF rebels as fighting erupts anew while on clearing operation in Zambo

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 1): Troops kill 6 MNLF rebels as fighting erupts anew while on clearing operation in Zambo

Six Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels were killed when fighting erupted anew as the government forces are conducting clearing operations in the “areas of concerns” here in this city, a police official disclosed Tuesday.

Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9 information officer Chief Insp. Ariel Huesca said the firefight erupted around 9:50 a.m. Monday in Martha Drive, Barangay Sta. Catalina, 1.76 kilometers east of City Hall.

The “areas of concerns” include the adjoining barangays of Sta. Barbara and Rio Hondo aside from Sta. Catalina.

Huesca said the firefight lasted until 12:10 p.m. of the same day that resulted to the death of six MNLF rebels.

Huesca said the troops from the Alpha Company of the Army’s 44th Infantry Battalion and police Special Action Force (SAF) were conducting clearing operations when they chanced upon the rebels, thus, the firefight.

Huesca said the slain MNLF rebels were among the hundreds of rebels that infiltrated this city last September 9 through the shores of Barangay Rio Hondo, 0.92 kilometers east of this city, and in nearby barangays.

He said the troops have recovered four M-16 Armalite rifles, an M-14 and M653 rifles and an M-203 grenade launcher.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=571528