Trainee soldiers clash with Reds in Tapaz
An encounter between a platoon of soldier trainees and more or less seven New People's Army (NPA) rebels resulted in a two-minute firefight at Brgy Rizal Sur, Tapaz, Capiz yesterday evening.
The soldier trainees were in the middle of their scheduled Field Training Exercise when they were fired upon by the communist rebels who were already occupying that area prompting the soldiers to return fire.
After the firefight, the rebels withdrew southwards. One wounded female, believed to be an amazon, was captured at the encounter site. She was evacuated by the troops for medical treatment and questioning. There were no casualties on the government side.
The soldier trainees’ Field Training Exercise on Jungle Survival is part of their graduation requirement before being accepted into the Regular Force of the Philippine Army.
The training is focused on Jungle Survival techniques and it was not anticipated that the NPA rebels will attack them during one of these exercises.
Pursuit operation is currently on-going to seek out the other rebels in the area.