• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Four troopers of the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) were injured in an encounter with remnants of the dismantled New People’s Army (NPA) Northern Negros Front (NNF) on Wednesday in Sitio Mansulao, Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental.
Lt. Col. Arnel Calaoagan, 79IB commander, said the four wounded in action are now in stable condition.
One of them is a member of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary.
They were injured on the first encounter at 11:10 a.m. of Feb. 21 at the site, where three rebels also died after a 30-minute gunbattle.
Recovered from the encounter site were an AK 47 assault rifle, an M653 automatic rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, three rifle grenades, an anti-personnel mine, assorted cellular phones and handheld radios, combat bag packs, bandoleers and subversive documents.
Pursuing Army soldiers, who were following bloodstains along the enemy’s withdrawal route, encountered the fleeing NPA rebels anew at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Another firefight between the soldiers and the rebels ensued on Thursday in the hinterlands of Escalante City.
In the two encounters, no one among the soldiers was injured, according to the military.
Calaoagan said the three encounters have apparently shaken the surviving remnants of the dismantled guerilla front, who are trying to regain their lost territories in northern Negros. | GB
