Brigadier Gen. Ericson Aurelio, 5th Infantry Division Chief, however, withheld the names of the victims, pending information to their respective families.
The victims, along with other government troops, were on their way back to their headquarters from an operation on board a convoy of two jeeps and two army trucks when their jeep hit a landmine in remote Sitio Casisiitan, Barangay Minanga, San Mariano.
Army Capt. George Domingo, operations officer of the 502nd Infantry Brigade based in Jones town, believes that the landmine was planted by the rebels. — Charlie Lagasca and Jaime Laude