Six New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and a member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) were killed and many other rebels were allegedly seriously wounded when a two-hour fierce gun battle erupted yesterday morning between government troops and communist dissidents in Awao, Monkayo town, Compostela Valley (ComVal), a regional Army spokesman said.
| The bad week for bad guys continues. |
Lt. Col. Felicisimo C. Budiongan, spokesman of the Army’s Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division, said that two attack helicopters of the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) Composite Air Support Force (CASF) provided air support for the ground troops during the heavy exchange of fire. The gunfight broke out at 6:45 yesterday morning.
The rebels, numbering at least 50, were believed to be members of the combined regional and provincial forces of the CPP-NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Revolutionary Committee (SMRC). The SMRC combined forces were supposed to attack an 11-man CAFGU detachment headed by Private First Class Berja in Monkayo town. However, elements of 72nd Infantry Battallion did not wait for the attack and instead brought the fight to the reported staging area of the rebels, Colonel Budiongan said.
| Outstanding! Hit them before they hit you. |
In the first one hour of heavy fire, CVO Roberto Morato was fatally hit. But in the next hour of gunfire exchange, government troops inflicted heavy casualty on the enemy forces. This came as a result of the air support extended by the attack helicopters and reinforcing combat troops, the Army spokesman said. Troops of the 60th Infantry Battalion immediately reinforced the soldiers of the 72nd Infantry Battalion at the battle front, forcing the rebels to withdraw, dragging along with them their casualties, Budiongan said. The identities of the slain and wounded rebels could not be established by the Army as of yesterday afternoon.
| Hard to identify where hamburger comes from. Nice work, guys. Keep it up. |
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