Flash reports reaching Camp Crame said about 50 rebels riding in a five-vehicle convoy attacked the Sta. Fe police station manned by five policemen at about 12:30 p.m., triggering a 30-minute fierce gunbattle.
Superintendent Delfin Millo, deputy police director, said the five policemen put up a fierce fight against the rebels.
They, however, scampered for safety after running out of bullets, leaving the lone fatality behind, identified as SPO3 Miguel Cabunitala, radio operator of the said station.
Inspector Narciso Paragas, the town's chief of police who was taking his lunch in a nearby eatery, was wounded when he rushed to the police station at the sound of the gunfire.Following the policemen’s withdrawal the rebels ransacked the station’s police armory and took off with seven M16s and two M14s assault rifles.
The NPAs, believed to be with the Arcadio Peralta Command, also ransacked all offices within the municipal building compound, including the health office, where they carted away P5,000 worth of medicines.
Nueva Vizcaya PNP chief for operations, Chief Inspector Peter Cambre, said that the rebels penetrated the PNP perimeter defense line unchecked, by pretending to be visitors.
The rebels were then aboard two passenger-type jeeps and a Hi-Ace van, Cambre added.
Joint police and Army forces are now tracking down the rebel attackers who split into small groups in their withdrawal.