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Monday, March 13, 2006
Cop killed, 3 hurt in outpost attack
DAVAO CITY -- A policeman was killed while three others were wounded when about 60 communist rebels opened fire on a police detachment in a remote town in Davao Oriental Sunday morning.
Davao Oriental Police Director Candido Casimiro and Regional Mobile Group Southern Mindanao head Lorenzo Holinday said the clash happened around 6:45 a.m. at the outpost of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group in Sitio Tambak, Barangay Baculin, Baganga, Davao Oriental.
Policeman Jose Subron was killed in the resulting firefight that lasted for some 40 minutes.
Villagers said they saw New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas carrying at least two wounded rebels from the scene of the fighting, said Casimiro.
Although outnumbered, the few policemen put up fierce resistance to prevent the guerrillas from entering the small station and seizing weapons, he added.
The guerrillas continued to fire on the police officers even as they transported their wounded to a hospital, he said, adding that the rebels then retreated probably fearing the arrival of government reinforcement troops.
Prior to the incident, authorities received information that rebels would attack the provincial mobile group camp, prompting them to reinforce security there. The rebels, however, attacked the outpost instead.
Communist guerrillas are active in the impoverished region of Davao Oriental, about 990 kilometers southeast of Manila.
The guerrillas are on US and European lists of terrorist organizations. They suspended Norwegian-brokered talks with the government in 2004, saying Manila has refused to take steps to remove them from the terror blacklists.
The rebels, who have been waging a rural-based Marxist rebellion since the late 1960s, number about 7,500, according to the military.
An ambush of government troops by suspected communist rebels on Thursday last week killed two soldiers and wounded six others in separate incidents in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. (BOT, Peng Aliño of Sun.Star Davao/AP/Sunnex)
(March 13, 2006 issue)
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