Soldier hurt in Negros clash with Reds

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —  An Army soldier was wounded in an encounter with New People’s Army rebels in Toboso, Negros Occidental on Thursday.

The soldier is now in stable condition at a private hospital in Bacolod City.

He was awarded a wounded personnel medal by Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Battalion commander, 303rd IB civil military operations officer Capt Mervin Rosal, said.

Rosal said troopers of the 79th Infantry Battalion were responding to reports of extortion by remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front in Sitio Serjae in Barangay San Isidro when the clash occurred.

Two homemade 12-gauge shotguns with magazines and bullets, medicine kits, hammocks, a cell phone battery, assorted personal belongings and subversive documents were among those recovered at the scene when the rebels fled.