16 offensives in January and February

New People’s Army frustrates intensified enemy attacks

Despite the intensification of armed attacks by the security forces of the US-Arroyo regime and their repeated self-serving projections about the impending defeat of the revolutionary forces, reports coming from the battlefront reveal that the New People’s Army and the revolutionary masses continue to hold the initiative in armed tactical offensives with the enemy.

At least 18 elements of the enemy armed forces were killed and scores of others were wounded in about 16 tactical offensives and two tactical counter-offensives conducted in the last two months by various units of the NPA across the country. The Red fighters were able to seize several pistols and high-powered rifles, including an M-60 machine gun, which could be used to further increase the strength of the people’s army.

On 29 December 2007, four soldiers belonging to the 21st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army were killed in an ambush by Red fighters of Danilo Ben Command of the NPA-Cagayan Province, in northern Philippines. The 5th Infantry Division of the PA had been conducting offensive military operations in several towns in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela since the start of December before they were ambushed by the NPA.

Various units of the Merardo Arce Command of the NPA-Southern Mindanao Region, in southern Philippines, were able to launch victorious tactical offensives during the second half of January 2008 without sustaining any casualty. While the bulk of the enemy’s forces – the 73rd IBPA and PA Scout Rangers – were busy in the western part of the region, the NPA inflicted blows on isolated enemy positions in the eastern side, namely Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces.

In the morning of 30 January, seven soldiers belonging to the 67th IBPA and a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) were killed while ten other soldiers were wounded in an ambush by the combined forces of Guerrilla Fronts 15 and 25, when the enemy troops were patrolling through the villages of Kinablangan, San Victor and Kampawan, in Baganga town, Davao Oriental. Seized from the enemy were an M-60 machine gun and two M-16 rifles.

In the afternoon of the same day, an intelligence operative of the 1102nd PNP Mobile Group was killed and two CAFGU elements were wounded in the village of Bukal, in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley, when they fought it out with Red fighters of Front 27. Another element of the 1102nd PNP Mobile Group was killed and ten others were wounded, this time in the village of Ngan, in Compostela, when the NPA 5th Pulang Bagani Command ambushed the reinforcing enemy troops.

On 31 January, a soldier was wounded when the NPA launched harassment operations against a detachment of the 733rd Combat Squadron of the Philippine Air Force in Clayo Village, Nasugbu town, Batangas province. Elsewhere in southern Luzon, four soldiers of the 9th IBPA and the 565th Engineering Battalion of the Philippine Army were seriously wounded when their armed convoy was ambushed by the NPA in Buenavista village, Bacon town, in Sorsogon province on 1 February. The following day, an army sergeant was killed when the NPA attacked an AFP detachment in Badian village, Oas town, in Albay province. The Red fighters seized a .45 caliber pistol from the enemy.

Meanwhile, latest reports reveal that the NPA in Samar province, in central Philippines, was able to seize 11 high-powered rifles when they raided the PNP municipal headquarters in Hinabangan town on 23 December. It was earlier reported that the Red fighters seized two HPRs and three pistols from the raid.