In a statement, Nolcom said the clash was between a company of the 86th Infantry Battalion (86th IB), under the Joint Task Force (JTF) “Tala” of the 5th Infantry Division (5ID) and about 20 armed men of the NPA.
The Army troopers were conducting Focused Military Operations (FMO) in Barangay Mabbayad in Echague when they encountered the armed rebels whose leaders was unidentified.
The firefight lasted for about 20 minutes and resulted in the wounding of four troopers, while an undetermined number of rebels were also believed to have been wounded or even killed although the bodies were carted off by their comrades.
Nolcom said the NPA rebels “immediately withdrew towards northeast direction while the government troops continued to pursue them.”
The wounded Army personnel were fl own by helicopter to the nearest hospital Nolcom recalled that five days earlier, Army soldiers belonging to the same company also clashed with the NPA in the town.
It said “Nolcom will continue to conduct pursuit and focused military operations, in coordination with other law enforcing units, in order to bring these terrorist groups (NPA), detrimental to people’s safety and hindrance to community development, into the hands of the authorities.”
