5 soldiers wounded in NPA ambush

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines – Five soldiers were wounded when communist rebels set off roadside bombs as they ambushed a military convoy in Surigao del Norte yesterday, the military said.

The victims, whose names were withheld pending notification of their families, were rushed to a hospital in Surigao City.

Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the wounded soldiers belonged to a team that was to conduct a humanitarian outreach mission in a remote barangay in Mainit, Surigao del Norte when New People’s Army guerrillas blasted improvised explosives along their route and subsequently fired at them.

Although outnumbered, the soldiers managed to return fire and prevent the rebels from getting close to their vehicles crippled by the explosions. – With Edith Regalado