CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The New People’s Army (NPA) in Aurora province said yesterday that eight Army Scout Rangers were killed and four others were wounded in a recent clash on Mount Katupnan in Barangay Dimatubo in San Luis, Aurora.
In a statement, the NPA’s Domingo Erlano Command belied earlier claims by the military that one NPA guerilla and four others were wounded during the firefight in Dimatubo last August 15.
“The military can not produce any body because its claim is not true,” it said.
Rowena Cervante, spokesperson of the NPA in Aurora, said what happened during the clash conflicted with claims made by the Army’s 7th infantry division later.
“It is not true that none of the soldiers were injured,” she said.
Cervante also said that last August 15, a platoon of Scout Rangers, led by one Lt. Ngao-i, was poised to conduct “strike operations” at Mount Katupnan by posing themselves as NPA rebels among local folk.
She said the soldiers were in three tents when NPA guerillas attacked them instead, triggering a five-minute gunbattle that allegedly killed eight soldiers and wounded four.
“The fact is that the soldiers kept on firing for 30 more minutes after the NPA guerillas had already fled,” Cervante said.
The NPA statement also accused the military of committing various human rights violations under its Oplan Bantay Laya 2 amid the implementation of the so-called Aurora Development Plan.
