Posted to the CPP Website (Mar 5): A call to the International Committee of the Red Cross
Alan Juanito
Spokesperson
NPA North Central Mindanao Regional Operations Command (Jiito Tito Command)
The NPA met the AFP’s hot pursuit operation after the successful NPA attacks of Del Monte and Dole with attritive operation. A unit of the New People’s Army under the Mt. Kitanglad Sub-Regional Command launched the first harassment action against the AFP troops on February 23, 2013 in Licoan, Sumilao, Bukidnon where an enemy corporal was confirmed wounded in action. We stand corrected with the previous erroneous report dispatched. Our apologies.
Last Saturday, March 2, at around 3:00 pm, a platoon of the operating 403rd IB troops was harassed by the NPA in Mt. Nanluyaw, a section of the Kitanglad Range. The NPA unit opened fire at the enemy scouting team positioned on a steeply elevated and narrow ridge located between the headwaters of Agusan and Kulaman rivers. Of the seven soldiers in the scouting team, two immediately fell after being hit by trigger fire at almost point-blank range because of the heavily clouded surroundings.
The firefight lasted for 22 minutes. The AFP troops’ main body, positioned on a slope 150 meters across the place of incident, was able to return fire for the first ten minutes only. Afterwards, the Red fighters withdrew safely. On the other hand, two helicopters of the air force failed to rescue the enemy casualties after several attempts because of zero visibility. Heavy fog covered the Kitanglad range.
On March 4, minutes after 3:00 pm, the stranded enemy troops were again harassed.
At this juncture, we call on the International Committee of the Red Cross to appropriate representation so we can grant safe passage to the casualties.
On the other hand, we wish to make it clear that not a single NPA fighter was captured. The three alleged NPAs arrested and charged in court are all ordinary civilians. They were coerced to admit crimes they did not commit under duress. Most outrageously amusing enough is the arrest of a passerby in a pineapple plantation on the grounds that the said person had abrasions on his face. This is fast becoming a practice of the AFP and the police nowadays. For failing to run after the NPA, they pound on civilians as their convenient scapegoats.
http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/a-call-to-the-international-committee-of-the-red-cross
NPA seeks to project a positive human rights image by calling for the Red Cross to assist wounded government soldiers. The insurgents also seek to discredit AFP assertions that it captured three NPA rebels by insisting that they are just innocent civilians. This is a common propaganda ploy used by the CPP/NPA.
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