One dead, nine hurt as suspected NPA rebels fire at cops in Mt. Province

Injured	Killed
9	1

Date: 28 June 2013
Source: GMA News

(Updated 1:24 p.m.) One policeman was killed while nine others were wounded as suspected communist rebels fired at cops undergoing training in Mt. Province early Friday morning, a regional police spokesperson said.

Citing field reports, Superintendent Davy Vicente Limmong, PNP Cordillera spokesman, said that at 5:45 a.m., about 20 New People’s Army rebels fired at 100 policemen doing jogging exercises at Sitio Kabunagan in Tadian town.

At the time of the incident, the cops were unarmed as they were all in althletic uniform, Limmong said.

“Walang dalang baril kase regular jogging ito at malapit sa poblacion na to. Yung mga ilang police escorts lang ang nakipag-engage pero sa dami ba naman ng dapat protektahan nila kase halos lahat walang dala baril,” Limmong said.

Those wounded were brought to the Bauko Hospital.

“We condemn this attack kase hindi naman mga armado, nagjo-jogging at in fact, naka athletic uniforms pa,” Limmong said.

The 44-year-old Maoist armed group has been waging Southeast Asia’s longest running communist insurgency, which has claimed at least 30,000 lives. The military estimates the NPA has about 4,000 fighters.

The government had been hoping to sign a pact to end the rebellion before President Benigno Aquino ends his six-year term in 2016. But the government said in April that peace talks have collapsed.

Last month, the government decided to stop pursuing formal peace talks with the NPA’s political arm, the National Democratic Front, which were “going nowhere.” — RSJ, GMA News