One soldier, at least one NPA killed in clash at Surigao Sur

By Ronron
March 2, 2008

A government soldier and at least one communist rebel were killed in a four-hour firefight early Sunday morning in Surigao del Sur province, a military spokesman said.

Maj. Michele Anayron, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, said the incident started at around 3:30 am when at least 150 suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) harassed the detachment of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Hinapuyan, Carmen town.

Anayron said the incident lasted until 7:30 am because all 25 personnel of the Army CAFGU detachment decided to fight it out with the perpetrators. He said the detachment was composed of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters who have since been integrated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Anayron identified the government fatality as Corporal Jaire Jadjuri, the detachment commander, who was hit as the suspected rebels were withdrawing at around 7:20 am.

The slain rebel, on the other hand, has yet to be identified even if his remains were recovered by the government forces.

Anayron said recovered from the cadaver of the NPA fighter was an M16 rifle and a hand-held radio.

He said that civilians in the area have also reported seeing two wounded and one slain rebels being carried by their withdrawing comrades.

“That must have been a high-ranking rebel because they brought his body, while they left the other one,” said Anayron.

Anayron said further that they are checking the report of civilians that a Caucasian woman was seen in the company of the suspected rebels, and acting like a medic officer as she was seen administering intravenous procedures to the wounded soldiers.

“Pursuit operations are ongoing,” Anayron said.

The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, although the government intends to neutralize them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.

Peace talks between the government and the communist movement bogged down in August 2004 after the latter was tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS