Wounded NPA fighter captured after Northern Samar clash

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 6, 2024): Wounded NPA fighter captured after Northern Samar clash (By Sarwell Meniano)

INJURED REBEL. Policemen and soldiers visit the wounded fighter of the New People's Army in a hospital. The military captured the rebel after a clash on June 5, 2024 in Pambujan, Northern Samar. (Photo courtesy of Philippine Army)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine Army captured on Wednesday a wounded fighter of the New People's Army (NPA) following clashes with soldiers in an upland village of Pambujan, Northern Samar.

Lt. Col. Marvin Maraggun, commander of the Army's 19th Infantry Battalion, said in a statement Thursday that the military captured the rebel following a text message from a villager about the presence of a wounded person near the Pambujan River.

The wounded rebel was identified as Lagi Cabides of the NPA's sub-regional guerilla unit. His comrades abandoned him after he sustained gunshot wounds in his left ear and cheek.

Soldiers and civilian volunteers applied first aid treatment and rushed him to the Pambujan rural health unit. He was then referred to the hospital for further medical treatment.

Maraggun thanked the Local Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict of Pambujan for its support and the civilians for their cooperation to end insurgency.

“The information provided by concerned citizens regarding the presence of armed rebels indicates that the community completely realized that they also have a role in solving decades-long insurgency,” Maraggun stated.

Troopers heightened their focused military operation following information from a civilian that a group of armed men was carrying extortion in Igot village of Pambujan town.

Early Wednesday, the troops encountered the rebels. After the five-minute firefight, the government troops seized one M16 rifle and other personal belongings of rebels.

Meanwhile, while the troops were conducting pursuit operations, they encountered a group of eight rebels in the nearby Cagbigajo village, also in Pambujan town.

The firefight lasted for about three minutes and the armed rebels scampered in different directions leaving behind two improvised shotguns and a banned anti-personnel mine.

Northern Samar is considered the country's last bastion of insurgency.

Recently, the military dismantled two NPA front committees, prompting its remnants to regroup into a sub-regional guerilla unit.

Although there are still active fighters in Northern Samar, they are no longer in control of any village in Samar Island, according to the Philippine Army.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1226359