by DAVAO TODAY
DAVAO CITY – The New People’s Army guerrillas seized 13 firearms in a raid at a police headquarters in Kibawe town of Bukidnon on Thursday dawn, leaving one police officer dead.
Senior Police Officer 2 Rodelfin Alonzo was killed when he and his four fellow officers engaged the NPAs in a gunfight for about 20 minutes before being overpowered by the guerrillas, the Army said.
The NPAs escaped through four vehicles after collecting the firearms.
The NPA Mt. Apo Sub-regional Command issued a statement saying they seized seven M-16 armalite rifles, three .45 caliber pistols, three 9mm pistols, ammunitions, uniforms and a radio.
Police and military are now in a joint pursuit operation against the guerrillas, according to Captain Christian Uy, spokesperson of the Philippine military’s 4th Infantry Division.
The NPA said its forces attacked the pursuing troops belonging to the police’s Regional Mobile Group and the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion with a command-detonated explosive, and claimed it inflicted an undetermined number of troops wounded.
The NPA command’s spokesperson, Isabel Fermiza, said the NPA action was aimed “to punish an abusive police unit and an army unit responsible for the forced recruitment of paramilitary Cafgus and building of Army detachments in several parts of Bukidnon.”
Kibawe is located 137 kilometers northwest of Davao City. (davaotoday.com)
Liberation Movements, NPA raid Bukidnon
