Two soldiers hurt following encounter with NPAs in Davao City

From the Philippine News Agency (May 17): Two soldiers hurt following encounter with NPAs in Davao City

Two troopers of the 69th Infantry Battalion were wounded following an encounter with seven New People's Army (NPA) fighters in Paquibato District, Davao City Saturday morning.

These troopers were responding to civilian reports that the rebels were laying landmines along a road in Sitio Mangga, Barangay Malabog, of the above-mentioned locality, when the soldiers encountered seven heavily-armed NPA fighters around 5: 38 a.m.

This triggered a 10-minute firefight where the rebels detonated a landmine which wounded two soldiers.

The NPAs quickly fled taking with them an undetermined number of casualties. Pursuing troopers later recovered 100 meter blasting wire.

"This is again a deliberate attempt of the NPA to disturb the peace that we are slowly gaining here in Paquibato, but still the success of the peace building activity indicates that we are making progress," 69th Infantry Battalion commander Lt. Col. Rodney Intal said.

He also commended the community for the timely information on the landmine.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=644690