Army, NPA clash in N. Cotabato: 4 dead, 5 hurt

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 22): Army, NPA clash in N. Cotabato: 4 dead, 5 hurt

A militiaman and three communist rebels were killed in a pre-dawn clash Monday in a remote village in Makilala, North Cotabato, police said Monday.

Chief Insp. John Felongco Medel, Makilala town police chief, said an undetermined number of New Peoples’ Army (NPA) guerillas harassed at around 12:45 a.m. an Army and militia detachment in Sitio Garing, Barangay Luayon, Makilala, North Cotabato.

The harassment, Medel said, triggered an hour-long gun battle that left a militiaman killed and five other para-military troopers injured.

Also recovered at the site of clash by responding troopers from the Army’s 39th Infantry Batallion were three bodies of NPA rebels who are still unidentified.

“The remains of three dead rebels were recovered in adjacent villages where the rebels fled,” Medel said.

Lt. Colonel Rhojun Rosales, 39th IB chief, said pursuit operations are going on.

The clash erupted while the NPA Guerilla Front 53 is holding captive Police Sr. Insp. Menard Cui since he was seized in President Roxas, North Cotabato on Dec. 28, 2017.

Medel assured the national highway linking Davao del Sur and North Cotabato remains passable. The clash site is about eight kilometers away from the national highway.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1022385