Rebels who led Compostela cell site attack captured

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Soldiers captured three New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, one of them tagged in the recent attack on a Globe Telecom cell site in Compostela Valley, in a firefight last Monday.

Lt. Col. Francisco Simbajon, information chief of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said Rolando Cordero, said to have led the bombing of the cell site in Laak, Compostela Valley last Oct. 15, was wounded in the firefight with soldiers led by 2Lt. Roderick Catungal.

The two other captured rebels were identified as NPA political officers Juan Lavendia and Benita Bangongon, who had arrest warrants for murder and robbery-homicide, respectively.

Seized from Cordero were an M-14 Armalite rifle, nine empty shells of M40 and M203 grenades, and five molotov bombs.

Meanwhile, four rebels belonging to the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Front Guerrilla Unit surrendered to the Army’s 60th Infantry Battalion led by Lt. Col. Edgar Gonzales in Davao del Norte.