Thursday, December 17, 2015

Suspected rebel killed in Candoni

From the Visayan Daily Star (Dec 17): Suspected rebel killed in Candoni

A suspected red fighter of the New People's Army died yesterday in another encounter with government troops in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, following armed skirmishes Friday that also claimed the lives of two rebels and an Army soldier in Hinobaan town.

Col. Francisco Delfin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said yesterday that government militiamen, augmented by 79th Infantry Battalion soldiers, were conducting security patrol, when they figured in armed skirmishes with NPA bandits in Sitio Cabanbanan, Brgy. Camalanda-an, Cauayan.

Delfin said the rebels, who fled after about 10 minutes of running gunbattle, left behind their slain comrade identified as a certain Tata Sarona, while an M-14 assault rifle was recovered at the encounter site.

No one was hurt on the government side.

Delfin claimed that the rebels encountered by his troops were also the suspects in killing of former CAFGU member Rene Villar in Brgy. Camalanda-an, Candoni, last month.

“We were able to give justice to the family of the NPA victim,” he said.

The latest Candoni encounter was the fourth armed skirmish against the lawless groups in the CHICKS area for this month, that resulted in the killing of three NPA rebels, the capture of another one, and the seizure of three high-powered firearms, military records show.

The NPA vowed to launch more tactical offensives in Negros, after its successful confiscation of five high-powered firearms from a cock farm, and the abduction of a member of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade in La Castellana last week.

The rebel group also claimed responsibility for the deaths of two CAFGU members and two of their former members in Cauayan and Ilog.

Delfin brushed aside threats of the NPA to launch tactical offensives, saying it is normal for them to do so.

There is no need for them to launch tactical offensives, as they may find out who are hunting them in the mountains, he said.

Delfin said the series of encounters in Candoni and Hinobaan was triggered by reports of civilians, who relayed information to them on the presence of armed men in their areas.
 

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