By Ronron
October 31, 2007
Two policemen died while two others were hurt after they were waylaid on Wednesday morning by armed men in Masbate province, officials said.
Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang said the incident happened at 9:30 am yesterday in Barangay San Pedro, San Pascual town.
Region 5 Police commander Chief Supt. Balligi Tira said in a separate phone interview that the incident also left one of the perpetrators killed on the ground.
Tira said the waylaid troops belong to Police Regional Mobile Group and the San Pascual Municipal Police who were responding to reports of armed men sightings in the area.
“While on their way, they were ambushed. There was a landmine explosion first, and then they were fired upon. But our troops were able to retaliate that’s why we were able to kill one of the perpetrators,” Tira said in Filipino.
Tira said the landmine blast, fortunately, did not hit any of the two police vehicles that were carrying the policemen.
“Our casualties were due to gunshot wounds and not due to the landmine,” he said.
Tira said one policeman died on the spot, while another one died while being transported to the hospital. Two others are being treated at the hospital.
The enemy fatality, however, was brought by the other perpetrators, said Tira.
While Cabangbang tagged the perpetrators as either members of the New People’s Army (NPA) or partisan armed group, Tira refused to make any categorical classification.
“We are investigating if they are really NPA or members of a partisan armed group, and if this incident is election-related or not,” Tira said.
The 6,200-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside in the last 38 years, which include the use of landmine blast targeted against government forces.
Peace talks with the government bogged down in August 2004 after the group and its officials were tagged as terrorists by the US and the European Union.
The Arroyo government has vowed to crush the movement by 2010./DMS
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