3 soldiers, 5 NPA gunmen wounded in Negros Occidental encounter

Three soldiers and five New People's Army gunmen were wounded during a Saturday morning firefight in Negros Occidental's Escalante City, the Philippine military revealed.

Soldiers from the 79th Infantry Battalion were operating in Sitio Morino, Barangay Paitan at around 6:45 a.m. when they encountered and engaged around 30 NPA fighters in a 45-minute gunfight.

The communist gunmen were forced to withdraw, with military forces in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, the three soldiers who suffered slight injuries during the battle were taken to hospital and were in stable condition.

Additional military units and two Philippine Air Force helicopters were deployed for the pursuit operations.

Soldiers were also able to seize an anti-personnel land mine and subversive documents from the battle scene.

Meanwhile, some 60 Escalante households were evacuated to the Paitan Elementary School due to the nearby gun-battle.

Military civil operations units, as well as local disaster and health officials,  had attended to the temporarily displaced families, all of whom were given medical check-ups, relief goods, and Disaster Assistance Family Access Cards. — DVM, GMA News