NPA leader captured in ComVal after clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Filipino soldiers killed two communist rebels and captured a senior guerrilla leader after a running gun battle in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, officials announced on Monday. The New People's Army rebel leader, Elizalde Canete, was also wounded in the weekend clash which broke out in the village of Sarmiento in Laak town, Major General Carlos Holganza, a regional army commander, said. A government soldier and two rebels were also wounded in the firefight, he added. One of the wounded rebels later died while being treated by government troops in the area. The other – identified as Elizalde Canete – was airlifted via a helicopter to a government hospital in Davao City. Troops recovered three automatic weapons, including a hand grenade and a transceiver radio and anti-government propaganda, Holganza said. Canete is facing a string or criminal charges from multiple murders to robbery and homicide, the general said. The fighting erupted after members of the Army Special Forces spotted the rebels and a firefight ensued. The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging a secessionist war the past five decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. - GMANews.TV