THREE Army soldiers were killed and 21 other
soldiers were wounded after they were ambushed by hundreds of New
People's Army rebels in Cotabato at dawn Monday.
Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio, Central Mindanao
police director, identified the fatalities only as Corporals Balibago
and Caballero; and a certain Private First Class Dalumban, all
detailed with the Army's 39th Infantry Battalion.
The soldiers were reportedly returning to camp in a
convoy of Army trucks when they were fired upon at Barangay Ilustre,
President Roxas town.
Maj. Lyndon Paniza, a battalion commander in North
Cotabato province, said a large formation of NPAs attacked the convoy.
"Our troops were returning home early today when one of our trucks
struck a landmine," Paniza told reporters, adding the soldiers also
came under heavy gunfire from rebels on both sides of the road.
"Our outnumbered troops fought back for several
minutes until reinforcements came to push back the rebels. We're not
sure how many we got from their side, but they must have suffered
heavy casualties too." Paniza said.
An official from the hospital told reporters at
least 18 soldiers were being treated for gunshot and shrapnel wounds.
"A couple of them were actually in very critical condition due to
bullet wounds in the head," Fe Mendoza of the Arakan Valley hospital
told reporters. "They have to be transferred soon to better equipped
medical facilities."
PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon reiterated
his call for police field unit commanders to be vigilant against
possible attacks from the leftists.
Razon said the North Cotabato incident, the killing of police Supt.
Narcisco Guarin in Legazpi City and the series of armed hostilities in
the past two weeks in Compostela Valley, Agusan and Surigao indicate
an escalation of offensive actions by the local communists.
