On September 2, at around 12 noon, Red fighters ambushed troops of 37th IB aboard two 6×6 military trucks in Sitio Lower Nursery, Brgy. Sta. Clara in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat. The troops were in transit to reinforce security forces of the ABU-Gemma Construction Company in Sitio Welcome, Barangay Datu Andong in the same town.

According to local reports, around 24 AFP elements were killed while 28 were wounded in the ambush. One of the trucks was severely damaged.

A few hours earlier, an NPA unit carried out a punitive action against ABU-Gemma Construction Company and paralyzed a backhoe.

The construction firm, a local contractor of major government infrastructure projects in Far South Mindanao Region, is undertaking road widening projects in the area to pave way for the largescale logging operations of D.M. Consunji Incorporated in the first district of Sultan Kudarat. These projects cause environmental destruction and endanger the people’s livelihood.

The ambush was the second around two weeks in the same barangay. On August 17, another unit of the NPA ambushed AFP troops aboard a 6×6 military truck traversing Sitio Paril. Three soldiers aboard were killed while one was wounded.

The 37th IB also suffered casualties in an armed encounter between NPA fighters and their operating troops in Brgy. Baluan, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat last July 26. No less than three AFP elements were killed while a Red fighter was martyred.