6 'rebels' killed in Luzon, Mindanao clashes

(Updated 3:37 p.m.) Six suspected New People's Army rebels were killed in separate clashes in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Sorsogon Tuesday, a week before the Christmas truce between government and communist rebel forces takes effect. In Compostela Valley, a report received by Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz said the clash occurred about 7 a.m. when elements of the 25th Infantry Battalion chanced upon 10 rebels harboring in an abandoned house in Pasian village in Monkayo town. The 20-minute firefight left three rebels dead, identified only by their aliases Isang, Wendel and Rambo. A certain Tanya was captured wounded and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. But Ortiz said Tanya later died due to "severe loss of blood." No government casualties were reported, Ortiz said. The operating troops recovered five M16 rifles, a Garand rifle and a Carbine rifle from the rebels. Earlier in the day, two suspected communist rebels were killed while two others were reported wounded following a predawn encounter with government troops in Sorsogon province. Radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen cited initial military reports indicating one of the wounded was a commander of the NPA's local guerrilla front committee. The report quoted Maj. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman for the Army's 9th Infantry Division, as saying that the encounter occurred around 5:30 a.m. in San Isidro village in Barcelona town. Cabunoc said the wounded NPA commander was a certain Jason Brual, but he did not immediately identify those killed. He said government troops were verifying reports that NPA rebels were harassing people in the area when soldiers chanced on the guerrillas. The encounters occurred a week before the government was to start a Christmas ceasefire that would last from Dec. 16 to Jan. 3 – an initiative that is expected to boost the peace process with the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV