16 hurt in NPA landmine blast

DAVAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ Sixteen persons, including 11 soldiers and five civilians, were hurt in a landmine explosion Sunday night that hit a convoy of ambulances in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.

The landmine was allegedly planted by communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas operating in the area.

According to the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), the incident took place at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday night when the convoy that included three ambulances of the Davao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) and the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion were on their way to Barangay Managa in Bansalan.

The convoy was transporting to a local hospital several soldiers reportedly injured in an earlier encounter with the NPA when the landmine detonated and damaged the passing ambulances.

Police identified some of the injured victims as Ivan Malingco, Bonita dela Cruz, Henaro Dumayas, Alberto Cabual Jr. and Arnel Valeroso, all volunteers of the PDRRMC.

Responding policemen and local officials rushed the victims to a hospital in Digos City.

Dumayas sustained wounds in different parts of his body and is in critical condition, according to senior members of the Bansalan municipal peace and order council.

Army intelligence sources said the bombing was perpetrated by a group led by Commander Rang-Rang of the NPA’s Guerilla Front 51.

The incident was preceded by last week’s roadside bombing in President Roxas, North Cotabato that injured town Mayor Jaime Mahingpit and his three police escorts.

The mayor and his companions were on their way to a remote barangay in President Roxas to inspect a road project when their vehicle struck a homemade explosive allegedly planted by NPA rebels.

“We condemn to the highest degree this barbaric and brutal act of the NPAs clearly violating Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” said Lt. Col, Norman Zuniega, commander of the 39th IB.

The convoy of ambulances was transporting eight soldiers who were wounded in an encounter with NPA rebels Sunday morning in Sitio Don Carlos, Barangay Managa also in Bansalan.

The Eastmincom reported that the troops belonged to the Army’s 39th IB which clashed with rebels belonging to the NPA Guerrilla Front of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command that operates in the hinterlands of Davao del Sur.

The encounter took place at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning and lasted for one hour.

The wounded soldiers were identified as 1/Lt. Ngalew, Corporals Espina and Imar, Privates First Class De Guzman, Adam, Mamalinta and Privates Mamalinta and Reynalda.

The military yesterday condemned the communist rebels’ landmine attack in Davao, calling it “a sign of weakness.”

“I would say that this is a sign of weakness and a sign of indiscriminate acts and sign of willful violation of international laws. We have the international humanitarian law. You don’t attack ambulance units carrying the wounded and the sick,” Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr. said in a press briefing.

“It’s a way for them to show how notorious they are without due regard to the rule of law,” he added.

Tutaan said the attack appeared to be premeditated “to inflict maximum injury” to the soldiers.

The explosion happened even if the military conducted clearing operations in the area after an encounter earlier that day.

The military, however, belied claims that those who conducted clearing operations had miscalculated the risk in the area. – With Alexis Romero, John Unson, Shiela Crisostomo