2 more cell sites attacked

LEGAZPI CITY — Communist guerrillas destroyed two cell sites of mobile phone firm Globe Telecom in Albay and Masbate in the past week, the military said.

In Albay, a band of six fully armed insurgents torched the Globe cell site in the remote village of Malapay in Pio Duran town after disarming security guard Jimson Llevares.

Days earlier, a 10-man New People’s Army group also destroyed, using homemade explosives, the Globe cell site in Sitio Santo Niño, Palanas, Masbate.

Late Friday, another Globe transmission tower was torched in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

Amid the attacks, military authorities in Bicol urged residents of far-flung barangays to report the presence of rebels to avert disruption of vital communication links.

Last July, guerrillas fired at and damaged two other cellular transmission sites operated by Globe Telecom in Sorsogon.

Meanwhile, three rebels were killed while another guerrilla and two children aged seven and nine were wounded when the NPA swooped down simultaneously on three police and Army detachments in Lianga and San Miguel towns in Surigao del Sur before dawn last Saturday.

The military said the two minors were hit by stray bullets in the ensuing firefight during the NPA attack in Barangay Tina, San Miguel town. — With Ben Serrano