Aerial bombing forces NPAs to flee

From the Manila Bulletin (Dec 19): Aerial bombing forces NPAs to flee

Camp Bancasi, Butuan City – Attack helicopters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) struck rebel positions Thursday that allowed military ground troops to pre-empt a rebel attack on a highland lumad village located near the the Diwata Range on the border of Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur, military reports said.

Helicopters from the Tactical Operations Group (TOG) of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) unleased a rocket assault on an undetermined number of New People’s Army (NPA) insurgents that allowed government troops to gain the upper hand in a six-hour gunbattle in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga town in Surigao del Sur.

(Photo courtesy of google maps)

According to Col. Rey Pasco, commanding officer of the Fourth Civil Military Operations (4th CMO), the heavy gunfight started at 2 a.m. and lasted for six hours until the NPA rebels fled to nearby Diwata range. The fleeing insurgents were reported to have carried away with them their slain and wounded colleagues.

The group, which attacked the village, reportedly included fighters from the Sub-Regional Sentro De Grabidad, Sub Regional Committee-South Land, Guerrilla Front Committee 19-A and Front Committee 19-B of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).

 

The timely intervention of the military’s ground and air forces came after the villages, themselves, reported the alleged plan of the NPAs to burn houses in the lumad villages located at Kilometer 9 and Sitio Han-ayan in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

“The rebels planned to stage atrocities with the objective of preventing the lumad evacuees in Tandag City (Surigao del Sur) from returning to their homes and in order to generate another issue and to further blame it to the government who are currently securing the area,” claimed Pasco.

After receipt of the information, elements of Alpha Company, led by Lt. Karl Jan S. Devaras of the Army’s 75th Infantry Battalion, (75th IB) immediately proceeded to the reported area and engaged the rebels in a fierce firefight.

One Army soldier was wounded in the initial heavy gunfight and was immediately evacuated to a hospital in Surigao del Sur for medical treatment, he said.

Before the end of Thursday, Lt. Col. Haron S. Akaz, commanding officer of the 75th IB, had already sent reinforcements to Han-ayan to beef up Alpha Company and prevent more atrocities that could be committed by the rebels against the lumads.

As of press time, wide pursuit and clearing operations were still ongoing in Han-ayan area, a field report added.

http://www.mb.com.ph/aerial-bombing-forces-npas-to-flee/