Govt forces hunt NPA band that killed 3 troops in Ilocos Sur

From InterAksyon (May 3): Govt forces hunt NPA band that killed 3 troops in Ilocos Sur

CAMP PRESIDENT QUIRINO, Ilocos Sur -- Government forces are hunting down a band of New People’s Army guerrillas who ambushed five soldiers returning to their base Thursday in Cervantes town, Ilocos Sur killing three and wounding another.

Senior Superintendent Nestor Felix, provincial director, said Corporal Edward Ryan A. Pingel, Privates First Class Ralph Henry A. Balungot, Joey Labert L. Alejandro, Rommel B. Pilien and Arnel Parungao, of the Army's 50th Infantry Batalion, were onboard a KM450 truck when they were attacked in Barangay Remedios around 9:45 a.m. Thursday.

Pingel, Balungot and Alejandro died while Pilien was wounded.
Parungao escaped unscathed.

Felix said responding local policemen recovered a caliber .45 pistol, empty caliber .45, M16 and M14 rifle shells, and fragments of an improvised explosive device.

Felix said they believe the rebels were the same group that burned the drilling machine of a mining firm in Barangay Patiacan, Quirino town on April 11.

Major Calixto D. Cadano Jr., public affairs officer of the Army's 5th Division, claimed the ambushed soldiers were returning from a “bayanihan” or civic activity.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/85982/govt-forces-hunt-npa-band-that-killed-3-troops-in-ilocos-sur