Suspected NPAs torch construction vehicle

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Suspected heavily armed communist rebels attacked and torched a truck of a construction firm after it turned down the extortion demand of rebels in Zamboanga del Sur.

Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, spokesman of the Armed Forces Southern Command said 20 New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in Barangay Upper Nilo, Tigbao town burned the truck of the CMC Construction Co. at about 4 p.m. The construction firm is the contractor for the government-funded national high-way in Zamboanga del Sur.

He said the residents in the village fled in horror for fear that they might be caught in the crossfire as troops were immediately alerted about the presence of the communist guerrillas.

"The communist terrorists have been extorting money from the construction firm to fund their operations," Lucero said.

He said witnesses’ accounts revealed that the rebels immediately doused the truck with diesel fuel and torched it.

The elements of the 51st Infantry Battalion who were dispatched to the crime scene failed to catch up with the rebels who quickly broke up and fled towards different directions. – Roel Pareño