MANILA: Twelve soldiers were wounded in successive clashes with the New People’s Army (NPA) and in a landmine blast in Surigao del Norte this week, according to the military.
Captain Christian Uy, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said two of the soldiers were wounded in an encounter last Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Siagao, San Miguel town. Five others were hurt in a fire fight the following morning also in San Miguel.
The clashes occurred after the military conducted patrols to verify reports about the presence of armed men in the area.
The military has yet to confirm if the insurgents sustained casualties during the clashes, although traces of blood were seen at the encounter site.
Police chase leads on killing
MANILA: At least eight teams of police officers were dispatched yesterday to various parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces to gather evidence that would lead them to ad firm executive Kristelle Davantes’ killers.
The victim’s uncle, Vincent Davantes, said the task force assigned to the case was yet to inform them of the results of the autopsy on her body.
“We don’t know yet the result of the autopsy. We are still waiting for it,” said Vincent, who claimed he saw his niece’s body and thought she suffered a single stab wound in the neck, contrary to media reports that she had multiple gunshot wounds near her neck.
Chief Superintendent Christopher Laxa, the task force chief, said the autopsy indicated that Davantes died of asphyxia – meaning she had been strangled – and of multiple stab wounds.
Armed men rob, shoot engineer
CAMP OLIVAS: Four armed men on two motorcycles shot and wounded a project engineer and carted away P245,000 he had just withdrawn from a bank in the City of San Fernando here on Thursday.
Senior Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, Pampanga police director, said engineer Pedro Navarro, 43, who resides in Mexico town, had just withdrawn the money from a Land Bank of the Philippines branch when he was robbed.
Agencies
