Three soldiers were killed while two were wounded in a three-hour firefight with alleged members of New People’s Army (NPA) in Mt. Province on Sunday afternoon.

Lt. Col. Isagani Nato, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) spokesman, said troops of 81st Infantry Battalion were conducting combat operation when they encountered an undetermined number of gunmen in the vicinity of Sitio Dandanac, Brgy Tamboan, Besao, Mt Province around 2:50 pm.

Troops could not say if there were casualties on the side of the enemy.

“Reinforcements were sent immediately in the encounter site and casualty evacuation was conducted for the wounded and slain heroes in the incident,” he said.

Nato said troops also lost of one K3 Squad Automatic Weapon, two R4 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher attached to one of the rifle and a Harris handheld radio.

“It can be recalled that a day before, July 14, 2018 (Saturday), an encounter also took place at 8:40 am in the same area after the 81st IB initiated combat operations to clear the area of communist NPA terrorists,” Nato said. Robina Asido/DMS