Alleged NPA rebel killed, another captured in Masbate

MANILA, Philippines - A suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebel was killed while another one was captured following a clash with Army soldiers in Masbate province Thursday, the Philippine Army said. In a statement released Friday, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr said the clash erupted 6:55 a.m. Thursday when combined elements of the 22nd and 9th Infantry Battalions chanced upon an undetermined number of insurgents in Macabog village in Aroroy town. At the time of the encounter, Brawner said the troops were responding to a disaster call from a rebel returnee in the area. Troops recovered two M16 rifles, two caliber .45 pistols, two bandoleers with five long magazines and ammunition. No government casualties were reported in the encounter, Brawner said. The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) which has been waging a Maoist guerrilla campaign in the countryside for nearly four decades. Talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the umbrella organization of the mainstream communist movement in the Philippines have been stalled since August 2004. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered government forces to crush the communist insurgency by the time she ends her term in June 2010. - GMANews.TV