Three AFP troops dead, six wounded in NPA offensive in Eastern Samar

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At least three government troops were dead and six were left wounded after Red fighters of the New People’s Army-Eastern Samar (Sergio Lobina Command or NPA-SLC) fired upon a CAFGU detachment of the 52nd Infantry Battalion in Jipapad yesterday (July 7) early morning.

According to initial reports, Red fighters used three command-detonated explosives (CDX) to fire upon the detachment under construction in Sitio Casapa, Barangay 4 Poblacion of the said town. The Efren Martires Command (NPA-EMC), regional command of the NPA in Eastern Visayas, is still gathering information regarding the military action.

Four days earlier (July 3), the NPA-SLC confiscated an R-4 rifle from troops of the 52nd IB in an ambush in Sitio Casapa, Brgy. Denigpian, Dolores in the same province.

The consecutive tactical offensives were the response of the NPA-SLC to the people’s demand for justice for the wanton abuses of the fascist troops of the Duterte regime.

Jipapad and Dolores are part of the five towns in the northern part of Eastern Samar subjected to relentless combat-psywar-intelligence operations by AFP troops under the guise of Retooled Community Support Program operations since May.

Soldiers have been forcing residents to surrender as NPA members and supporters. Relentless military operations have also disturbed the peasant masses’ livelihood in the farmlands.

Last April, soldiers from the 52nd IB along with the 14th IB and CAFGU elements conducted test fire operations in farmlands in Dolores. They indiscriminately strafed and fired grenade launchers for five hours in the middle of the harvest season.

Meanwhile, the NPA-EMC dismissed allegations by the 801st Infantry Brigade-Philippine Army that the NPA-SLC violated international humanitarian law in the use of CDX, reiterating that the CAFGU detachment was a clear and legitimate military target and that the CDX was fired upon command. #

Three AFP troops dead, six wounded in NPA offensive in Eastern Samar