3 soldiers wounded as fighting erupts in Misamis Oriental

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 4): 3 soldiers wounded as fighting erupts in Misamis Oriental

Three army soldiers were airlifted to the military camp here Friday morning as fresh fighting erupted anew in the hinterlands of Lagonglong, a fifth class town north of the province.

Maj. Christian Uy, spokesperson of the army’s 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista, said an army soldier was in critical condition while two others were slightly wounded.

Uy said the soldiers of the 58th Infantry Division were on combat patrol when they encountered an undetermined number of armed men believed members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Kapatagan, Lagonglong Friday morning.

He said that fighting continues as of press time.

The military has dispatched helicopter gunships to provide the government troopers air cover and immediate evacuation of the wounded, Uy added.

Uy said it could not be determined yet if the rebels have suffered casualties in the gun battle that rages in the hinterlands of Lagonglong.

Two days ago, elements of the army’s 58th IB also figured in an armed encounter with the NPA rebels in the nearby village of Bunal, a hinterland village in the municipal town of Salay, Uy said.

He said that there were no reports of casualty in the Salay armed skirmish.

The encounter in Lagonglong took place two days after the military launched a hot pursuit operation against the NPA rebels who were suspected in the ambush-slaying of Impasug-ong town Mayor Mario T. Okinlay in Bukidnon last Wednesday morning.

Uy said that the military tagged the NPA as responsible in the ambush-slaying of Okinlay who was on his way home Wednesday morning to their town proper after a medical mission in the remote village of Bontongon the day before.

The town of Impasug-ong borders the mountains of Claveria, a rebel infested farming town in Misamis Oriental.

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