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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 10 July) – Two New People’s Army rebels were killed while three policemen and a soldier were wounded after a band of rebels attacked the police station in Alegria town in Surigao del Norte Thursday afternoon, military reports said.
Maj. Christian Uy, public information officer of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said around 60 NPA rebels on board a red Isuzu Forward truck attacked the police station around 3 p.m.
Uy said the rebels overran the defenses of the police station and carted away four M16 and an M14 rifles and a shotgun.
The rebels left two police officers wounded while withdrawing towards the villages of Siringan and Bliss in the neighboring town of Kitcharao.
Uy said the 30-minute firefight at the Alegria police station alerted the police in Kitcharao, who responded to help their colleagues.
He said the police reinforcements were able to encounter the retreating rebels, resulting in another firefight that killed two rebels armed with AK-47 rifles.
Uy said a nearby Army detachment also sent reinforcements led by a V150 Simba armored personnel carrier to Alegria to reinforce the policemen.
He said a 10-minute firefight ensued when the soldiers encountered a blocking force of 15 rebels in Barangay Pungtod, resulting in the wounding of one Army soldier.
Uy said the soldiers and policemen are still searching the outlying villages in Alegria where the rebels have withdrawn.