PA colonel, 3 others wounded in NPA clash

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — An Army battalion commander and three soldiers were reportedly injured yesterday afternoon when a group of suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels ambushed the government troops in Tupi, South Cotabato.

Col. Nestor Ochoa, 601st deputy commander and Task Force GenSan chief, said 27th Infantry Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Eduardo Andes and other wounded soldiers were rushed to a hospital in a nearby Koronadal City, the capital of South Cotabato.

Ochoa however clarified that the victims were not hit in the ambush staged by NPA rebels against the soldiers but during the encounter while the government troops were having a regular foot patrol.

He said some 20 heavily armed guerrillas fired at two teams of soldiers led by Andes and 1st Lt. Bustamante in Sitio Salapidan, Barangay Palian, Tupi town at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, sparking nearly two hours of fighting.

The battle scene, he said, was about 2-3 kilometers away from the national highway and near the PNP detachment in Palian Bridge, Tupi, South Cotabato.

While the NPA band belonging to Front 73 were on higher grounds, Ochoa said, the soldiers also inflicted an undetermined number of casualties to the ragtag rebel group using ground maneuvers and by firing heavily against their enemies.

Reinforcement from the 27th IB and the PNP Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) arrived later and they are still conducting pursuit operations against the rebel band, which withdrew towards the forested area.