ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Six government troops have been wounded in a fresh clash with communist rebels in a remote village in the Philippines south, a military spokesman said Wednesday.
Captain Alberto Caber said police and a soldier were on a routine patrol Tuesday on Talomo hinterland outside Davao City when they encountered around 20 New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas.
In a text message to the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Capt. Caber said the troops went on patrol after receiving reports of communist rebels harassing villagers in Talomo.
"While patrolling the area, they [troops] chanced upon the rebels, triggering a 30-minute gun battle.”
He said five police commandos and one army soldier were wounded in the clash.
Meanwhile, a female guerrilla leader was captured following a 15-minute firefight between army troops and NPA rebels in the hinterlands of Zamboanga del Norte, an army official said.
Zamboanga is a majority Christian city in the predominantly Muslim south.
Col. Apolinario Alobba said Mercy Maghinay, 35, who reportedly carries the aliases of Ki Joycee and Ki Genevie, was arrested after she was abandoned by her comrades who fled in different directions.
She is the second suspected female guerilla to be arrested in recent months following the capture of Andrea Rosal, daughter of the late rebel spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, March 27.
The military said Rosal, who allegedly uses the aliases “Naiya” and “Liam,” was arrested on charges of kidnapping and murder and was also implicated in an attempted homicide case.
The Davao region and the neighboring provinces of Agusan, Surigao and Bukidnon on Mindanao island are hotbeds of communist insurgency.
Last week, NPA rebels shot and killed a Bukidnon mayor. The NPA’s North Central Mindanao Regional Operations Command admitted to the murder, saying the mayor was actively backing the military.
Since March 1969, the NPA - the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) - has been waging one of Asia’s longest running insurgencies in the country, which - according to the military - has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the past eight years.
In March, President Benigno Aquino III was quoted as saying that the resumption of peace talks with the communist rebels would depend on the willingness of the NPA to cooperate with the government.
Aquino issued the statement after authorities arrested CPP chair Benito Tiamzon and his wife, the party's secretary general, Wilma Tiamzon.
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