ANGELES CITY- Three New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas were killed in a clash with soldiers from the 71st infantry battalion (IB) in Sitio Upper Diayo in Barangay Galintuja in Ma. Aurora town, Aurora province at about 12:20 a.m. yesterday, the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) reported.
Initial reports said a soldier was also killed, but this was denied to Punto! by Maj. Charlemagne Batayola Jr., spokesperson of the Army’s 7th infantry division (ID) in the area.
He said, however, that 2nd Lt. Franklin Decio, who led the soldiers from the Bravo Company of the 71st IB, was wounded in the clash and that the military also seized two M-16 and two M-14 rifles from the rebels.
Batayola said soldiers were combing the forests of Sitio Upper Diayo when they saw some 20 armed rebels in the area, prompting a firefight.
“The 71st Infantry Battalion is one of the three Army battalions under the 702nd Infantry Brigade, 7th Infantry Division engaged in heightened internal security operations in the tri-boundaries of Aurora, Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya since last month,” Nolcom said.
Nolcom noted that “from January 26 to February 12, a total of eight armed engagements occurred resulting to nine killed and several others wounded on the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA side”.
Last January 31, however, three soldiers also from the 71st IB were killed when the rebels ambushed them in Barangay Napon-Napon, Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
Ensuing military operations in Pantabangan prompted local officials to evacuate some 100 families to an elementary school and a barangay hall in Villa Rica and Malbang in the town.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional office sent a team to Pantabangan last Tuesday to check on reports that the evacuees were starving. As of yesterday, the CHR team had yet to reveal its report.
The series of armed engagements started on January 26, when troops under Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, battalion commander of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion encountered NPA guerillas under a certain Ely Taray Agmaliw alias Omeng in Brgy Decoliat, Maria Aurora, Aurora.
Batayola said, however, that the bodies of the three rebels allegedly killed in yesterday dawn’s firefight were dragged by their comrades, but stressed that soldiers were sure the three were dead.
He said the rebels are now on the run but have been already encircled by the military in the same forests where the firefight happened.
Initial reports said a soldier was also killed, but this was denied to Punto! by Maj. Charlemagne Batayola Jr., spokesperson of the Army’s 7th infantry division (ID) in the area.
He said, however, that 2nd Lt. Franklin Decio, who led the soldiers from the Bravo Company of the 71st IB, was wounded in the clash and that the military also seized two M-16 and two M-14 rifles from the rebels.
Batayola said soldiers were combing the forests of Sitio Upper Diayo when they saw some 20 armed rebels in the area, prompting a firefight.
“The 71st Infantry Battalion is one of the three Army battalions under the 702nd Infantry Brigade, 7th Infantry Division engaged in heightened internal security operations in the tri-boundaries of Aurora, Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya since last month,” Nolcom said.
Nolcom noted that “from January 26 to February 12, a total of eight armed engagements occurred resulting to nine killed and several others wounded on the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA side”.
Last January 31, however, three soldiers also from the 71st IB were killed when the rebels ambushed them in Barangay Napon-Napon, Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
Ensuing military operations in Pantabangan prompted local officials to evacuate some 100 families to an elementary school and a barangay hall in Villa Rica and Malbang in the town.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional office sent a team to Pantabangan last Tuesday to check on reports that the evacuees were starving. As of yesterday, the CHR team had yet to reveal its report.
The series of armed engagements started on January 26, when troops under Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, battalion commander of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion encountered NPA guerillas under a certain Ely Taray Agmaliw alias Omeng in Brgy Decoliat, Maria Aurora, Aurora.
Batayola said, however, that the bodies of the three rebels allegedly killed in yesterday dawn’s firefight were dragged by their comrades, but stressed that soldiers were sure the three were dead.
He said the rebels are now on the run but have been already encircled by the military in the same forests where the firefight happened.
