DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental—A soldier and two civilians were wounded in an encounter with suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Thursday afternoon, April 30, 2020, in Barangay Camudlas, Bindoy town in Negros Oriental.
To recall, three suspected rebels, one of them a woman, were killed during the encounter with the troops of the 94th Infantry Battalion and members of the Bindoy Police station.
Read: 3 NPA rebels killed in NegOr clash today
Police Colonel Julian Entoma, director of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO), said in a sketchy report that a soldier and a government guide were wounded during the encounter while a minor was also hit by a stray bullet.
According to the report, the joint elements of the 94th IB and the policemen led by Lieutenant Abdulnasser Israel were validating intelligence reports regarding the presence of communist rebels in the area.
However, in the process of confirming the report, the government troops encountered an undetermined number of rebels.
Entoma said the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) are in the area to process the encounter site.
The fatalities in the side of the rebels remain to be unidentified.
Meanwhile, 60 families, or around 260 individuals, fled from their houses during the exchange of gunfire. The evacuees are now at the Bindoy Central School located at the Poblacion.
Evacuees are being taken cared of at the Bindoy Central School in Negros Oriental after a firefight between government troops and suspected rebels on Thursday afternoon forced them to leave their homes. | contributed photo
Bindoy mayor Ike Amorganda told CDN Digital in an interview the evacuees will remain at the evacuation center until the area is cleared by the Army and PNP.
“Until now, nag clearing operations pa. Kung ma clear na, pabalikon nako sila,” Amorganda said.
(Until now, the clearing operations are ongoing. Once the area is clear, we will let them go back to their houses.) /bmjo