COTABATO CITY – Patrolling soldiers killed in a brief clash in Kapai, Lanao del Sur on Sunday, three members of the New People’s Army collecting “protection money” at gunpoint from hapless villagers.
Officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Army’s 55th Infantry Battalion separately confirmed to reporters on Monday that the three NPAs belonged to the terror group’s self-styled North Central Mindanao Regional Committee, whose top leaders are wanted for high-profile criminal cases pending in different courts in the Bangsamoro region and in Region 10.
Reports received on Monday by senior officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, which has jurisdiction over Lanao del Sur, stated that the encounter between the NPAs and personnel of the Army’s 55th IB in Sitio Bagong Silang in Barangay Malna in Kapai left three other guerillas wounded, seen by villagers being carried away from the scene by retreating companions.
The Army team that clashed with the NPAs was dispatched to Sitio Bagong Silang after barangay officials reported to the Kapai Municipal Police Station and the 55th IB the presence of gunmen in the area, forcing villagers to shell out money.
A number of villagers who had no cash were forced to provide them rice and chickens, according to local officials.
Soldiers found four assault rifles beside the cadavers of the three NPAs and improvised explosive devices in their bags. — John Felix M. Unson
