7 troops hurt in latest NPA attack in NCotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  --- Seven Army combatants were injured as communist rebels set off a roadside bomb in one of two simultaneous attacks Friday morning in Makilala town in the province.

Lt. Col. Nilo Vinluan, commanding officer of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, said his wounded subordinates were conducting a dawn security patrol in Barangay Luna Sur in Makilala when New People’s Army guerillas detonated the explosive.

The wounded soldiers were assigned to check on reports by villagers about a plan by the NPAs to rig roadside bombs along farm-to-market roads in the barangay to intimidate residents and force them into paying “protection money” on a regular basis.

Another group of NPAs fired assault rifles on a detachment of the 57th IB in nearby Barangay Flores, also in Makilala while rebels blasted the improvised explosive device that hurt seven of Vinluan’s men.

The blast victims have been taken to a hospital, according to Vinluan.

Vinluan said although outnumbered, the soldiers assigned at the detachment in Barangay Flores managed to return fire and prevent the NPAs from closing in.

The firefight waned only after the NPAs that tried to take over the detachment ran out of ammunition, forcing them to retreat.