Troops overrun NPA encampment in Abra

MILITARY forces seized an encampment of the New People’s Army ( NPA) on Thursday in Pilar, Abra resulting in an encounter that wounded a soldier, the military’s Northern Luzon Command ( Nolcom) reported on Friday.

Lt. Col. Isagani Nato, Nolcom spokesman, said the encounter happened at about 12: 45 p. m. in Barangay Gapang between the Philippine Army’s 24th Infantry Battalion and an unidentified platoon of the communist rebels in Pilar.

Nato said one Army personnel, whom he did not identify, sustained splinter wounds in the face.

The NPA encampment consists of 14 tents and two bunkers where several subversive items were found in five backpacks, two holsters of caliber .45 pistol, four chargeable flashlights, three slings for M16 rifle, one loadbearing gear, a transistor radio, five jungle bolos, food stuff including a half sack of onion, cooking paraphernalia and other personal belongings.

A separate incident happened on Thursday at about 6: 45 a. m. with a small group of communist rebels at Allaguia Patrol Base in Barangay Allaguia, Pinukpuk, Kalinga province.

Nato said the NPA rebels fired at the troops with six rounds of carbine, prompting the soldiers from the Army’s 77th Infantry Battalion to fire back triggering a gunfight that prompted the rebels to withdraw toward Sitio Dommand of the same village.