[Mindanao Examiner] Philippine troops killed a top communist leader in a gun battle that left 2 soldiers injured in Zamboanga del Norte, an army spokesman said Thursday.Military spokesman Ronald Suscano said Edwin Lapinig, commander of the New People’s Army in Western Mindanao, was killed in Sindangan town where police commandos, backed by soldiers were trying to arrest him on Wednesday. Lapinig opened fire on security forces which triggered the gun battle. No soldiers or policemen were killed or wounded in the firefight, said Suscano, who called the slain rebel commander a “notorious terrorist leader.”
Security forces tracked down Lapinig’s hideout after a long intelligence operation. The militant leader was also tagged as behind the killing of two soldiers and the disarming of policemen in Don Victoriano Chiongbian town in the neighboring province of Misamis Occidental, and the series of arson attacks on construction sites in Zamboanga Peninsula.