Armed clashes with soldiers kill 2 rebels, injure 6 others in Albay

From InterAksyon (Nov 2): Armed clashes with soldiers kill 2 rebels, injure 6 others in Albay

At least two fighters of the New People's Army (NPA) were killed while six others, including four soldiers, were wounded in two clashes reported on Saturday along the boundary of Daraga town and Legazpi City, both in Albay, the police and military said.

Senior Inspector Art Gomez, spokesman of the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5), said the first encounter took place at around 5:30 a.m. in Sitio Binicitahan, Barangay Mariawa, Legazpi City, while the second clash was reported at around 1:10 p.m. in the adjacent Barangay Talahib, Daraga.

In the first incident, a platoon of soldiers led by 1st Lt. Richard Relloso of the 2nd Infantry Battalion engaged more than 10 rebels in a firefight. The NPA members were believed led by a certain alias Antonio Abadiza from the NPA-Kilusang Larangang Guerilya 78.

The firefight lasted more than 10 minutes. Corporal Henry Nino Barra, and Private First Classes Valentino Renon, Melvin Navarro and Ryan Majistrado were wounded.

Maj. Angelo Guzman, deputy of the Public Affairs Office (PAO) at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, confirmed the incident. He said the four soldiers were slightly wounded by shrapnel blast, probably from rifle or grenade launchers fired by the rebels.

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Andrew Costelo said two rebels were also wounded in the encounter.

Pursuit operations by the platoon of Relloso resulted in the second encounter.

The afternoon firefight lasted more than five minutes. Soldiers recovered two bodies of suspected NPA rebels after the clash. It was not clear, however, if the two fatalities were the same rebels earlier reported as wounded during the first encounter.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/74001/armed-clashes-with-soldiers-kill-2-rebels-injure-6-others-in-albay