Military in hot pursuit of NPA insurgents (tags)
The military mounted a new operation against communist insurgents who raided a mining firm in Compostela Valley, officials said Friday. Suspected members of the New People’s Army, reports said, attacked the Apex Mining Co. late Thursday near Masara village in the town of Maco. Gunmen, numbering more than 50, disarmed the security guards and carted their weapons, said Col. Benito Antonio de Leon, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division. He said the NPA torched several equipment owned by the mining firm before escaping under cover of darkness. “Troops are pursuing the rebels and we are awaiting reports from ground commanders and so far there have been no clashes between soldiers and rebels,” De Leon told The Manila Times.
NPA rebels warn of more attacks (tags)
Communist rebels claimed responsibility for the raid on a Swiss mining firm in the southern Philippines and have warned of more attacks in the country. Rebels raided the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in the town of Tampakan in South Cotabato early Tuesday, torching buildings and equipment and attacking a military post nearby. Authorities said no one was injured or killed in the raid, which the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels claimed was a punishment for the giant Swiss mining firm accused of land grabbing, plunder and environmental destruction. The rebels said the raid was in response to a longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s operations in the area.