At least two Philippine Army soldiers were killed Thursday in an attack by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in the northern province of Abra.
The Philippine forces have indicated that a third soldier is also missing after the attack, which occurred when members of the Army moved to the municipality of Licuan-Baay to carry out rescue operations after the earthquake of magnitude 6.4 on the Richter scale that took place this week.
«We strongly condemn this barbaric act of a communist terrorist group», asserted Richardo Garcia III, colonel of the Armed Forces, who referred to the NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party, according to information gathered by the newspaper ‘Inquirer’.
He assured the population, «especially the families of the soldiers, that everything possible will be done to prosecute the perpetrators and bring them to justice».
Clashes between the military and members of the NPA are frequent in the Philippines. Classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, the NPA is the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and emerged in the 1960s, making it one of the longest-running armed leftist insurgencies in Asia.
