NPA claims 8 soldiers killed in  Aurora clash

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The New People’s Army (NPA) in Aurora province said yesterday that eight Army Scout Rangers were killed and four others were wounded in a recent clash on Mount Katupnan in San Luis town.

In a statement, the NPA’s Domingo Erlano Command belied an earlier claim by the military that an NPA guerrilla and four others were wounded during the firefight in Barangay Dimatubo, San Luis last Aug. 15.

“The military cannot produce any body because its claim is not true,” it said.

Rowena Cervante, NPA spokesman in Aurora, said what happened during the clash conflicted with the claim of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

“It is not true that none of the soldiers were injured,” she said.

Last Aug.15, Cervante said a platoon of Scout Rangers led by one Lt. Ngao-i was poised to conduct “strike operations” at Mount Katupnan by posing as NPA guerrillas.

The soldiers, she said, were housed in three tents when NPA rebels attacked them, triggering a five-minute clash that allegedly killed eight soldiers and wounded four others.

“The fact is that the soldiers kept on firing for 30 more minutes after the NPA guerrillas had already fled,” she said.

The NPA accused the military of committing various human rights violations under its Oplan Bantay Laya 2 as the so-called Aurora Development Plan is being carried out.