DAVAO CITY – Members of the New People’s Army on Sunday said they killed 12 Army troopers and wounded 10 others in their attack against the Army three days after the alleged massacre in Paquibato District here.
Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA, in a statement said the NPA’s “1st Pulang Bagani Company routed a platoon of the 69th Infantry Battalion, killing 12 troopers and wounding 10 others, last June 17 at about 3:40 pm in Sitio Pag-asa, Barangay Paquibato Proper.”
Sanchez said the ambush was done in retaliation against the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion.
He said the most recent case of “terror” sown by the Army “was the Army unit’s brutal strafing of the house of peasant leader Aida Seisa which injured her 12-year old child and killed three civilians.”
“The Army viciously presented the civilian victims as armed NPA guerrillas in the village during the daylight following the massacre. In a mockery of justice, the 69th IB and the 10th (Infantry Division) has charged the victims of trumped-up cases,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said two NPA fighters died during their attack.(davaotoday.com)
