THE government troops have overrun a camp of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the hinterlands of Zamboanga del Sur, a military official said Tuesday.
Army’s 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Officer-in-Charge Captain Franco Suelto said the troops overran the camp following a 30-minute clash that broke out around 3 p.m. Monday in Sitio Kamanse in the village of New Tuburan, Tigbao town.
Suelto said the fire fight ensued as the troops pursuing a group of NPA rebels behind Sunday’s ambush of a military vehicle chanced upon the fleeing rebels.
Four soldiers and another one escaped unscathed when the NPA rebels ambushed a military vehicle Sunday morning at the Deorok Bridge in the boundary of Maragang and Lacupayan village in Tigbao town.
The troops were travelling to Zamboanga City coming from a military camp in the town of Labangan, Zamboanga when the NPA rebels ambushed them.
Suelto said several personal belongings including medicines and rice abandoned by the NPA rebels who abandoned their camp.
He said no one among the troops were either killed or injured during the gun battle while it is undetermined on the side of the NPA rebels.
The rebels reportedly belong to the NPA’s Section Committee Kara operating in the hinterlands of Zamboanga del Sur, he added.