Communist Rebels Kill 6 Philippine Troops In Ambush

Sumaira FH Published November 12, 2019 | 02:50 PM

A communist rebel ambush killed six Philippine soldiers and wounded 20 others, the military said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest assaults in the nation's five-decade-old Maoist insurgency

Manila, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Nov, 2019 ) :A communist rebel ambush killed six Philippine soldiers and wounded 20 others, the military said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest assaults in the nation's five-decade-old Maoist insurgency.

Troops patrolling on foot on the eastern island of Samar were hit with homemade bombs and fought a 30-minute gunfight with New People's Army rebels on Monday.

"They used IEDs (improvised explosive devices), leading to a large number of casualties," regional military spokesman Captain Reynaldo Aragones told AFP, adding one rebel was also killed.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, launched its rebellion to create a Maoist state in 1969. According to the military, the insurgency has claimed 40,000 lives.

Samar is an impoverished region that is fertile ground for recruitment by the 4,000-member NPA.