By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Philippine troops have been tracking down a group of communist guerrillas involved in fighting that left five New People’s Army (NPA) members dead and two soldiers wounded in southern Bukidnon province.
Capt. Alberto Caber, public affairs chief of Eastern Mindanao Command, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that the casualties occurred during a clash in the village of Mendiz, Pangantucan town, at 4.14 p.m. (0814GMT) Tuesday.
"The troops are still on their pursuit operations in the area as of reporting time," he said.
According to Caber, troops recovered an AK-47 rifle, 19 backpacks, food and medical supplies, and “subversive documents” at the encounter site.
The wounded soldiers were brought to a nearby medical facility for treatment.
Lt. Col. Nasser Lidasan, 1st Special Forces Battalion commander, said in a statement that they had responded to reports from residents on the presence of gunmen in the area.
While headed to verify the reports, they were allegedly fired on by the NPA rebels.
"The soldiers retaliated with the volume of fires coming from the NPA side," Lidasan said.
"We will provide the necessary assistance to local officials in order to facilitate the decent burial of the dead NPA members.”
Some residents had reported that they had seen around five wounded NPA members being carried by their comrades along their escape route.
Caber quoted a resident as saying that they had “felt protected due to the timely response of the military”.
Since March 1969, the NPA -- the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines -- has been waging one of Asia’s longest running insurgencies, which the military says has claimed more than 3,000 lives in the last eight years alone.
Philippine authorities have tagged the rebels as notorious extortionists and blamed them for harassing banana, pineapple and rubber plantations, as well as poultry farms and mining outfits.
As of late last year, there were estimated to be about 4,700 NPA rebels, mainly in the poorest regions of the Philippines.
Peace talks between the National Democratic Front -- the communist groups’ political arm -- and the government collapsed in early 2013 due to rebel demands that detained comrades be freed.
