The soldiers were traveling by truck on their way back from a patrol when they were waylaid by some 70 New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in Barangay Tagbubunga in Hinatuan town, the military’s Southern Command spokesman Capt. Noel Detoyato said.
The soldiers beat back the guerrillas after a three-hour fight, but Sgt. Eulogio Atalo and Pfc. Ryan Ownel Camanian were killed and 17 others were wounded, Detoyato said.
An undetermined number of rebels were also believed to have been killed or wounded in the gunbattle, he added.
The NPA is the armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines.
The government last year suspended talks with the rebels after the NPA assassinated Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo. — Roel Pareño, Jaime Laude, AFP