NPA attacks group of soldiers, militia, civilians

THE communist New People’s Army (NPA) staged another deadly attack in Samar province against a group of soldiers, para-military forces and civilians, leaving one dead and four others wounded.

Lt. Col. Noel Vestuir, commander of the 20th Infantry Battalion based in Catbalogan, Samar province, on Thursday, said that the Army troops and paramilitary forces, were conducting a regular dialogue with residents of Barangay Guindaulan, Rosario, Northern Samar, when an undetermined number of heavily armed rebels opened fire.

The volley of gunfire from the rebels, Vestuir said instantly killed that a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographi- cal Unit (Cafgu), wounded two soldiers and another Cafgu member and a civilian.

What the rebels did, Vestuir pointed out, was a violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Right and Internal Humanitarian Law as it victimized noncombatants.

“The NPA insurgents once again violated the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law by not sparing civilians from their attack against the government troops,” Vestuir said.

Captain Gene Orense, spokesman of the Eight Infantry Division, said that the incident was reminiscent of the ambush-massacre staged also by the NPAs in La Castellana, Negros Occidental province that left a policeman and eight civilians dead.

Orense said that had it not been for the quick response of the Army and para- military troops, more civilians might have been injured or killed.

Based on civilian accounts, Orense added that an undetermined number of insurgents were also wounded in the encounter.

Orense said that the Maoist rebels continue to capitalize on soft targets, often using inhumane tactics such as the use of improvised explosive devices, force taxation on business and civilian communities, ambuscades and destruction of vital facilities and private properties.