Google map of Tandag City, Surigao del Sur
BUTUAN CITY – Four suspected members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) were killed in an encounter that took place in Barangay Pangi, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur on Saturday afternoon.
Lt. Col. Jezreel J. Diagmel, commander of the Philippine Army's 36th Infantry Battalion, told a local radio station in Tandag City on Sunday that their operating troops encountered around 40 armed men who were suspected to be out to harass a quarantine checkpoint in the area.
The heavy encounter lasted 40 minutes before the NPA rebels retreated from their position and fled to different directions.
As of Sunday noon, the Army troopers have recovered from the encounter site four bodies of suspected NPA rebels.
Diagmel believed that more NPA rebels were killed during the clash as the troopers were still conducting pursuit operations in the area.
The four recovered cadavers are not yet identified as of this posting.
The troopers also recovered from the encounter site one M-16 rifle, two M-16 rifles with grenade launchers, one AK-47 rifle, two converted .22-caliber rifles, three mobile phones, two universal serial bus (USBs), six pieces of subscriber identity module cards, four pieces of memory cards, 20 pieces of jungle hammocks, 10 improvised beddings, and 21 backpacks with personal belongings, various documents and paraphernalia.
In an interview on Sunday, Col. James T. Goforth, director of the Surigao del Sur Police Provincial Office (SDSPPO), told the Philippine News Agency that they are providing support to the ongoing pursuit operation against the remaining NPA rebels in the area.
“We also alerted all our units in the province,” Goforth said. (PNA)
