In a statement e-mailed to news organizations, the Salvador del Pueblo Command said the casualties belonged to the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion based in Jones town and the 51st Reconnaissance Company, both under the 5th Infantry Division.
But Col. Preme Monta, spokesman of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), belied the NPA’s claim.
"The NPA (rebels) are brutal propagandists…They find glory in their murderous deeds," he said.
"Their lust for blood against the people who hate their evil ideology is their mark of the anti-Christ," he added.
Col. Alfredo Atendido, of the office of the 5th ID’s commanding general, however, admitted that their command suffered a setback last Dec. 16 when four 45th IB soldiers were slain in a three-hour gunbattle with the rebels in Barangay Dicamay, Jones town.
According to the NPA command, its fighters first attacked a military camp in Barangay Linumot in Jones town where it claimed that three soldiers were killed.
It added that 20 other soldiers pursuing the rebel attackers were killed in an ambush in the adjoining barangay of Sta. Isabel.
The NPA further claimed that 27 other government troopers were slain in an attack by its Reynaldo Pinon Command on a detachment of militiamen in Barangay San Jose in San Mariano town also last Dec. 15.