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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Gun battle breaks out in Surigao town
By Antonio M. Ajero
DAVAO CITY -- Heavy fighting broke out between a platoon size of New People's Army members and government soldiers in Lingig, one of the 19 towns of Surigao del Sur, Monday afternoon.
Elements of the Philippine Army's 36th Infantry Battalion were dispatched to the town, not far from Bislig City, to pursue the rebels allegedly responsible for taking hostage for a few hours Lingig Mayor Roberto "Jimmy" Luna Jr.
Rebels also emptied the town police station's armory of more than a dozen M-16 armalite rifles, three M203 grenade launchers, and an undetermined number of handguns Sunday afternoon.
Some 40 rebels, pretending to be Army soldiers, surprised Luna and his bodyguards at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
With the mayor and bodyguards as hostages, rebels stormed the police station located in the town hall and emptied its armory of 11 M-16 armalite rifles, an undetermined number of .45 pistols, and .38 cal. revolvers, said Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr. Monday.
The rebels also took long firearms from the nearby houses of policemen.
After their foray at the police station, communist guerillas accompanied Luna to his house and took there three M-203 grenade launchers and a .45 pistol as well as a .38 cal. revolver from the mayor's bodyguards.
Pimentel said the rebels, after taking the high-powered firearms, left Luna and six policemen unharmed.
An hour earlier, the rebels ambushed Luna and his bodyguards at Barangay Pagtilaan, 10 kilometers from Lingig, and used them as decoys to catch unaware the policemen at the station.
The mayor's two vans, a Toyota land cruiser and an Expedition, were used as getaway vehicles and were abandoned in Barangay Pagtilaan.
Provincial Police Director Admirante Josue rushed to Lingig to assist the victims but could not get through because of the heavy fighting that ensued early Monday morning between the Army's 36th infantry battalion and the guerillas.
The government group, led by Lieutenant Colonel Madarang, responded to the ambush but the guerillas attacked them as they were making their way to Lingig.
Josue said at least three government soldiers had been critically wounded during the heavy firefight, which started at 6 a.m. Monday and which raged on for four hours.
He said at least 300 Army soldiers have been deployed in the mountainous highway of Lingig, 23 kilometers from Bislig City. (With reports from Bert Pacate)
(February 7, 2006 issue)
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