NPA sorry for hitting ambulance in Davao del Sur landmine attack 

The New People's Army has apologized for a recent attack on a convoy of ambulances, adding it has ordered the extension of assistance to four civilians wounded in the landmine attack in Bansalan town, Davao del Sur.

 

“We express our deep regret and commiserate with the victims,” NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Command spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said.

He identified the wounded volunteers as Genaro Doronio Dumayas, Bonita dela Cruz, Arnel Comandante Veloroso, and Alberto Simbajon Cabual.

 

The military earlier reported that five volunteers and 11 soldiers were injured in the attack on the ambulances. The volunteers were aboard an ambulance of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

 

The ambulance was hit by the blast directly while two other ambulances— one from the Philippine Red Cross and another from the military—sustained minor damage.

 

The three ambulances were on the way to Barangay Managa last Sunday when the attack happened. They were supposed to pick up soldiers wounded in an earlier clash with the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

 

“We take responsibility for this act as we take cognizance of the fact that the medical staff and mobile medical units should not have been made target of any attack and whose protection and safety is guaranteed under international humanitarian law,” said Sanchez.

 

He said the NPA regional command has ordered an investigation and promised "disciplinary actions" if "complete data and evidence warrant."

 

Citing initial reports, Sanchez said members of the NPA's Mt. Apo sub-regional command failed to recognize the ambulance because it was "inconspicuous in as far as it did not discharge its siren, nor was it using any headlights, as per orders from the 39th Infantry Battalion."

 

He said the landmine was detonated to hit a military vehicle, but "regrettably, the blast affected the ambulance which was closely following the 6x6 truck."

 

The NPA meanwhile called on medical institutions "to refrain from carrying out other tasks that grants advantageous positions to the enemy and adversely forces the Red fighters to assume in active defense."

 

It added "medical personnel are only guaranteed absolute protection in so far as they remain neutral in the armed conflict." Medical vehicles operating in areas of conflict should use sirens and appropriate lighting, it also said. — JDS, GMA News