An alleged New People’s Army (NPA) member was killed while two were wounded in a 30-minute encounter with government troops in Cotabato on Sunday.

1Lt. Mark Anthony Tito, civil military operations officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion, said their troops encountered around 70 NPA members of Guerilla Front 53 (GF53) of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command (SMRC) at the vicinity of Sitio Kalo Kali, Barangay Bagumbayan, Magpet, Cotabato around 9:30 am.

Colonel Ehrlich Noel Paraso, 19th IB commanding officer, said soldiers launched an operation following the reported presence of armed terrorists.

“We had been receiving reports from concerned civilians about the presence of the terrorist NPAs in the area the reason why we launched our operations,” he said.

“This village was a former mass base of the terrorist group and they are trying to recover it by harassing populace and threatening former rebels to rejoin them in their failed armed struggle,” he added.

Tito said troops recovered one M14 rifle, one M16 rifle with M203 granade launcher, one antipersonnel landmine, five magazines with 208 rounds of ammunition, two National Democratic Front (NDF) flags, two NPA flags, two Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP0 flags, medical paraphernalia and subversive documents.

Tito said a soldier was slightly wounded in his left shoulder while another wounded rebel was apprehended in a military checkpoint in Brgy Gubatan, Magpet, Cotabato around 1pm of the same day.

“A wounded NPA terrorist was apprehended in an ambulance passing through Gubatan patrol base. The rescue ambulance of Magpet responded to call from the barangay council of Brgy. Noa stating that there was a person in need of medical attention,” he said.

Tito said “the cadaver was turned over to the local officials for identification while the wounded communist terrorist was brought to Amas Hospital in Kidapawan City and the injured soldier was extracted for medical treatment.” Robina Asido/DMS