ANGELES CITY – New People’s Army (NPA) rebels with M203 grenade launchers and other powerful arms attacked recently a squad of the army’s 81st infantry battalion in a base of militiamen in Barangay Burgos in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija.
A statement from Alexander Guerrero, Nueva Ecija operational command of the NPA, said the attack was done late night last March 15 in retaliation for the alleged summary execution of four its members by members of the army battalion last March 9 in Barangay Digmala in Bongabon, also in Nueva Ecija.
Guerrero said the military later reported that the four were killed in an armed clash “to cover up their brutality and crime.”
The NPA did not declare any fatality, but noted that the soldiers were taken by surprise and were not able to retaliate.
Punto tried to contact officers from the Army’s 7th infantry division and the unified armed forces Northern Luzon Command but failed.
Guerrero said that soldiers from the 81st IB, numbering over eight soldiers, were at the patrol base of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit in Carranglan last March 15 when its “commando unit” attacked.
He said that base also served as the army’s tactical command post for regular combat operations in the area.
“The soldiers were barraged by continuous firing from M203 and rifle grenades inside their camp, apart from bursts of fire from other high caliber firearms. They were really taken by surprise and were not able to return fire until we were able to flee,” Guerrero said.
He said the attack was also “a response of the local folk victimized by widespread landgrabbing in the former Hacieda Bueno as well as in other communities of the tribal Igorot folk at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya affected by the construction of a private passageway through the Cagayan Valley region.”
“There is also the issue of plans to launch mining operations in the area which will surely adversely affect the livelihood, health and environment,” Guerrero also said.
Guerrero also accused the 80th infantry battalion of being a “paid instrument” of foreigners and landlords.
