Six-year-old killed in Capiz blast

CEBU, Philippines - A six-year-old girl was killed while her sister was injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Tapaz, Capiz Sunday afternoon.

Captain Reylan Java, spokesman of the Army’s 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division, said that Rodelyn Aguirre was killed instantly after the bomb went off inside the victim’s house in Barangay Tacayan, Tapaz town.

Aguirre’s younger sister, Roda, five years old, was wounded.

Witnesses also said that two New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were seriously wounded in the explosion.

Initial reports revealed that the explosion might have been triggered by kinks in the process of assembling the explosive, reportedly done by NPA rebels. Java believes that the NPA would have used the explosive for their terrorist activities in Capiz and other parts of Panay Island.

It can be noted that on February 20, 2012, suspected NPA members also used IED to bomb the La Casa Transloading Station of Sugarcane Central in Barangay Mianay, Sigma, Capiz for the company’s failure to give in to their extortion demand.

On August 2011, the NPA also laid IED when they ambushed the Army personnel belonging to the 61st Infantry Battalion in Barangay Switch, Tapaz, Capiz.

They also set up two IEDs near the Igcabugao Elementary School in Igbaras, Iloilo last March 2010 but Army personnel conducting peace and development works recovered the same.

Based on military records, seven IEDs were recovered by the 82nd Infantry Battalion from various NPA encampments in Igbaras and Miagao, both in Iloilo province, in 2009 alone.

Meanwhile, Major General Jose Mabanta, commanding officer of the 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division based in Camp Peralta, Jamindan, Capiz, has extended his sympathy to the family of the children.

“We appeal to the leadership of the NPA to spare our children from harm. We asked them stay away from the communities that choose to live in peace,” he added.

“The four decades of armed struggle have only brought senseless deaths and miseries to the lives of innocent civilians,” Mabanta said. – /JMO