Thursday, April 05, 2007 Communist rebel slain in Agusan Sur By Danilo V. Adorador III
A COMMUNIST guerilla was killed in a gun battle between rebels and Army troops in a remote village in the Agusan del Sur town of Bunawan, a military official said.
No casualty or injury was reported on the government-side in the hour-long firefight, which occurred when soldiers from the 36th Infantry Battalion chanced upon the rebels in Barangay Bunawan Brooks, Bunawan municipality.
Repulsed, the rebels -- numbering about 20 -- withdrew, leaving the body of their dead colleague who remains to be identified as of Wednesday, said Major Samuel Sagun, public affairs officer of the Fourth Infantry Division.
Recovered from the encounter site were a long firearm, a grenade launcher, ammunitions and detonating chords, said Sagun.
"It was not known which command in the New People's Army (NPA) the rebels belonged, or who their leader was," he added.
Sagun said the encounter followed the strings of attacks in military outposts in the Caraga region and Misamis Oriental in the past two weeks.
Communist NPA rebels supposedly torched an abandoned Army camp and one Cafgu detachment in Caraga region.
Anticipating more attacks, he said, the entire Armed Forces decided to extend the March 29 nationwide red alert status until the military deems necessary.
