Army captures NPA training camp in N. Cotabato

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 16): Army captures NPA training camp in N. Cotabato

Government forces captured a training camp of the communist New People’s Army in a remote village here over the weekend, an Army spokesperson today said.

The recovery of a camp in Sitio Kisimbit, Barangay Manobo, about 10 kilometers north of Poblacion Magpet, came after an hour long skirmishes between elements of the NPA Far South Front 72 command on Saturday afternoon, according to Army 1Lt. Nasrullah Sema.

Sema, speaking for the 57th Infantry Battalion, said villagers in Barangay Manobo tipped off the soldiers about the presence of about 30 heavily armed NPAs undergoing training.

“The support of the civilians was the key in the recovery of the training camp,” Sema said, adding that the Army had slowly regained peoples’ confidence.

Sema said the camp in Barangay Manobo had perimeter defense line, several running trenches and bunkers that could house as many as 50 persons at a given time.

No casualty was reported in the firefight on the government side.

Sema said he could not say whether the NPAs suffered fatalities but he was expecting heavily wounded rebels fleeing the scene.

Sema said the camp was being managed by three amazons who fled with their men as the Army assaulted the training camp.

In retaliation, the NPA Front 72 guerillas have launched a series of atrocities against civilian and military forces in areas around the country’s highest peak of Mt. Apo.

“Ka Gemma,” speaking for the NPA, claimed they attacked soldiers of the 39th Infantry Battalion detachment in Magsaysay, Davao del Sur.

In an ensuing firefight, three NPAs were killed and three soldiers wounded.

Just as the fighting was raging in Magsaysay, a town near the boundary of Davao del Sur and North Cotabato, another band of NPAs attempted but failed to overrun two militiamen detachment in Tulunan, North Cotabato.

Sema said two NPAs were wounded in the Tulunan incident.

Ka Gemma announced here that they will launch harassment and tactical offensives simultaneous with the state of the nation address of President Aquino on Monday.

“We are ready for them,” Sema said. “We know their movements, we know where they are and we are ready as always.”

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=544532