7 gov’t troops hurt in NPA ambush in Agusan

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Five soldiers, a policeman and a government militiaman were wounded when New People’s Army (NPA) rebels ambushed the military truck carrying them in San Luis, Agusan del Sur on Thursday. 

Maj. Noli Kashinero, executive officer of the Army’s 26th Infantry Battalion, said the government troops were returning home after serving an arrest warrant against a murder suspect when they were waylaid.

“Our soldiers were just escorting policemen serving the arrest order and this is what we got,” Kashinero added.

The military suspects that rebels belonging to Guerrilla Front 88 of the NPA’s North Central Mindanao Regional Committee staged the ambush. – Ben Serrano, Jaime Laude