7 suspected NPAs killed in Negros Oriental clash

Five suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) were killed during an encounter in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental on Sunday morning.

Lieutenant Colonel Erwin Lamzon, spokesperson of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said the clash in Barangay Tapi began at around 5:30 a.m.

The encounter killed four women and three men, including a certain “Ka Kumpol,” an alleged leader with an amputated arm.

Lamzon said the Philippine National Police has an arrest warrant against Ka Kumpol for murder.

He added that Ka Kumpol is a square leader and former commanding officer of the NPA South Western Front.

The Army said the clash involved two alleged NPA groups and three battalions of the 302nd Brigade.

Lamzon said there were no casualties on the military side.

Six M16 rifles, one M203 rifle, one sub-9 mm machine gun, one M203 grenade launcher, and 9mm guns were also recovered from the site of the encounter.

“So yung iba siguro nakakatakas na pero yun yung kinakandakan ng pursuit,” Lamzon said.

(Some may have escaped, but we are pursuing them.) —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News