A government soldier was wounded in a second encounter between government troops and suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Masbate on Wednesday, hours after two alleged communist rebels were killed in an earlier clash in the province.
Col. Angelo Lutera, commander of the Army’s 903rd Infantry Brigade, said the soldier sustained a gunshot wound to the neck during the 10-minute firefight in Barangay Libtong, Cataingan town, at around 10:15 a.m.
The clash occurred just hours after another encounter in Barangay San Isidro, Palanas, where two alleged NPA members, believed to be a married couple, were killed.
Lutera said government troops recovered an M653 rifle and an M203 grenade launcher from the encounter site in Cataingan, both believed to have been left behind by the fleeing rebels.
The military has yet to determine whether there were casualties among the suspected rebels in the Cataingan encounter.