5 cops killed in NPA ambush in Sorsogon

Five policemen were killed while two others were injured Monday afternoon in an ambush staged by the communist rebels in Sorsogon province, a military official said. Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Roland Detabali said the fatalities and the wounded were recovered by responding troops from the Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion. Detabali said based from a report from the Army’s 903rd Brigade, operatives of the 509th Police Provincial Mobile Group were waylaid by the undetermined number of New People's Army (NPA) rebels at 1:30 p.m. in the vicinity of Antipolo village in Bulan town. The rebels had also set up a checkpoint at the nearby Del Pilar village, he said. Chief Inspector Alfredo Nierva of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Sorsogon identified four of the fatalities as SPO1 Johnson Gerola, PO1 Ryan Padrique, Police Inspector Jerson De Leon and PO1 Darwin Depoipo. Nierva said the wounded cops were on board a patrol car that hit a landmine. Detabali said that after learning the information, troops from the 49th Infantry Battalion were sent out to the area and found the five slain police personnel along with their two injured companions, who were brought to the Bulan Hospital for treatment. Also found in the area were four M16 rifles believed to be owned by the policemen, the damaged patrol car, and four unexploded improvised bombs. Detabali said the troops also recovered at the area a body of a suspected rebel who was believed killed in the firefight. Greg Bañares, spokesperson of communist-led National Democratic Front in Bicol, said the Celso Minguez Command based in Sorsogon province was responsible for the attack. - with Michael Jaucian, GMANews.TV