COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Soldiers wounded five more New People’s Army guerrillas and recovered hundreds of assorted ammunition and materials for fabrication of powerful roadside bombs as they foiled Thursday another NPA attempt to collect money from villagers in Magpet, North Cotabato.
Combatants of the 10th Special Force Company, a component unit of the Army’s elite 5th Special Forces Battalion, managed to drive the rebels before the latter could get close to villages in Barangay Mahungcog, an agricultural area in Magpet.
Col. Ademar Tomaro, commander of the Army’ s 602nd Brigade, said the soldiers learned of the presence of the marauding NPAs in Barangay Mahungcog in Magpet from farmers that have long been complaining of the extortion activities of the NPA.
Thursday’s NPA-Army encounter in Barangay Mahungcog was the 16th since combined units of the 602nd Brigade begun flushing out communist forces in Magpet late November.
Soldiers managed to drive away the NPAs spotted by farmers approaching a strategic area in Barangay Mahungcog after an hour-long running firefight, wounding five rebels.
Tomaro said they have no actual enemy body count, but villagers dislocated by the encounter said they saw fleeing rebels carrying five wounded companions.
Barangay officials said the fleeing rebels left hundreds of ammunition of assorted calibers, live 40 MM grenade projectiles, fragmentation grenades and materials for fabrication of landmines and remote-controlled improvised explosive devices.
Officials of the Special Forces contingent helping the 602nd Brigade clear strategic areas in Magpet from NPA occupation are convinced the rebels could have suffered fatalities with the shelling of their escape route with 105 Howitzer canons by members of the Army’16th Fire Artillery Battalion.
Tomaro reiterated anew his offer of safe conduct pass for wounded rebels that intend to undergo medication in hospitals anywhere in the province and in Cotabato City.
Text messages have been circulating for three days now purporting that more than 20 NPAs were wounded in a five-hour running firefights Monday in three adjoining districts in Magpet.
Soldiers used 105 howitzer cannons to drive the rebels away.
Villagers that evacuated for fear of getting trapped in the ensuing crossfires confirmed seeing rebels carry dead and wounded companions, mostly adolescents, as the rebels retreated to a hinterland at the border of North Cotabato and Bukidnon. - John Unson