8 NPA rebs die in clash

Eight suspected communist rebels, one of them a woman, were killed in a firefight with a joint team of soldiers and policemen in a remote village in Paete, Laguna early yesterday morning.

According to reports reaching Camp Crame, a platoon of the Army's First Infantry Battalion's Task Force Banahaw and elements of the regional police mobile group were on a routine patrol in Barangay Bagong Bayan when they encountered a band of about 50 New People's Army fighters, reportedly led by a certain Ka Miroy.

A gunbattle ensued, leaving eight rebels dead. They remain unidentified.

The military dispatched men of the Third Scout Ranger Battalion and a MG520 helicopter to pursue the rebels who retreated towards Pakil town.