Three militiamen slain, four hurt in clash with Reds

From The Gulf Today (Aug 3): Three militiamen slain, four hurt in clash with Reds

The military on Friday reported that two militiamen were slain while four others, including a junior officer, were wounded in an encounter with members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) on the island province of Masbate in the Visayas in Central Philippines.
Captain Joash Pramis, an Army division spokesman, said the clash occurred in a remote “barangay” (village) in the town of Cawayan, Masbate on Friday morning, more than 24 hours after a powerful explosion rocked the port of the province’s capital city of Masbate late on Wednesday night.

Pramis said initial investigation showed the officer and his militiamen were on security patrol when they were ambushed by heavily-armed NPA insurgents that resulted in a 20-minute heavy gunbattle.

Pramis said they alerted all hospitals in Masbate to be on the lookout for wounded persons being brought to them following reports that the rebels also suffered heavy casualties before they withdrew.

The NPA is the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines that has been waging a Maoist-style insurgency against the government for 50 years, considered the longest in Asia and the Pacific.

The Masbate clash was the latest in the increasing number of encounters between government security forces and the Maoists since President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte recently formally ended peace talks with them.

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