Two alleged members of New People’s Army (NPA), including a bomb maker, were killed while a soldier was wounded during two encounters with the military in Misamis Oriental last Sunday.

1st Lieutenant Tere Ingente, public affairs office chief of the 4th Infantry Division, said the first clash between troops of 403rd Infantry Brigade and around 30 armed men occurred in the vicinity of Brgy. Banglay, Lagonglon town around 9am.

She said the encounter with the alleged NPA group from Guerilla Front 4B of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee lasted about 25 minutes, resulting in the death of two reported NPA members and recovery of two AK-47 rifles and one M16 rifle.

“One of the communist terrorist was identified as Odelo Compas also known as alias Sapayanan, a functional staff for explosives/ordnance and production of said communist terrorist group. The identity of the other dead communist terrorist member is yet to be determined,” she said.

Ingente said during the pursuit operation, troops engaged in another encounter within the same barangay around 1:45 pm.

She said the 20-minute fire fight resulted in the wounding of a soldier who was brought to Camp Evangelista Station Hospital at Cagayan de Oro City around 10 am last Monday.

Ingente said the wounded soldier, who has not been named, is in stable condition.

“Troops believe that several other communist terrorist were also wounded during the series of clash as evident by the bloodstains that were seen in the withdrawal route and from the reports received by the 403rdBrigade after the encounter,” she said.

Ingente said the government troops also seized an encampment accommodating 50 persons.

They also recovered one M203 grenade launcher, one 12-gauge shotgun, one M635 carbine, one air gun, ammunition, sniper scope, three backpacks with personal belongings and subversive documents,” she said. Robina Asido/DMS