At least 4 PSG members wounded in Cotabato ambush by alleged NPAs

July 19, 2017

At least four members of Presidential Security Group (PSG) were wounded in an encounter in Cotabato on Wednesday morning. Lt. Col. Michael Aquino, PSG Civil Military Operations Officer, said based on initial report their personnel were on their way to Cagayan de Oro from Davao City when they encountered more or less 50 members of New People’s Army (NPA) who were wearing military uniforms along the national highway in Arakan, Cotabato around 6 am. In a text message from Superintendent Romeo Galgo Jr., spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 12, he said five soldiers and one member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographic Unit were injured. Killed was an unidentified civilian while a civilian asset of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group was abducted, Galgo added. Brig. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, Eastern Mindanao Command Deputy Commander said the government forces immediately conducted pursuit and blocking operations against the rebels. “They are on their way to Cagayan, because we have a lot of activities in Cagayan so they supposed to go there to coordinate administrative matter of the PSG,” he said. Aquino said the 10 PSG personnel who were on board two civilian vehicles were on a regular “administrative movement” when they stopped in a checkpoint that was established by the rebels on military uniform. “While on their way, the NPA who pretended to be military personnel by wearing military uniform are having checkpoint, so off course the initial reaction of our troops is to stop, so upon verification of the rebels who were conducting checkpoint, our personnel notice that they are not soldiers and because of that the encounter occurred,” he said. “They (troops) fired against them, so it’s not an ambush, it was an encounter, our vehicles move forward,” he added. (Robina Asido/DMS)