Gov't trooper wounded in firefight with rebels
A government trooper was wounded when his units figured in a firefight with New People's Army rebels late Saturday.
Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' 32nd Civil Relations Unit told The News Today that the soldiers and the rebels clashed at around 5 pm Saturday in the boundary of Capiz and Iloilo provinces.
Marquez said that a seven-man squad of Army troops assigned with the 47th Infantry Battalion and led by Corporal Frisco A. Canico encountered about 10 NPA rebels in the vicinity of Brgy. Buri, Tapaz town, Capiz and Brgy. Masaroy, Calinog, Iloilo resulting in a brief gunfight which lasted for 10 minutes.
Private first class Santiago V. Vallite Jr. was wounded in his lower left chest. Citing information he received, Marquez said that traces of blood were observed along the withdrawal route of the rebels.