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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