DEM VOLKE DIENEN

In the following we want to give a short brief on the recent actions, (suspected) carried out by the New People´s Army(NPA) on the Philippines.

An "undetermined number of fully-armed NPA guerrillasⁱ" attacked a police station and the residence of the mayor of Surigao del Norte town of Sison, in the morning hours of January 28.

According to the "Manila Bulletinⁱⁱ" the attack last around 15 minutes of fierce exchange of fire, before the combatants retreated without any losses. The intelligence mission launched by the reaction after the attack has not been successful so far.

On January 17, a unit of soldiers on motorcycles the belonging to the 31st Infantry Battalion were ambushed by an undetermined number of armed combatants. Three soldiers were killed and a futher on were wounded in the attackⁱⁱⁱ. According to the news agency "INQUIRER.NET" the NPA took responsibility for the action on the next day (We can neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of this statement with certainty so far).

In a press statement issued on Monday, Florante Orobia, NPA-SBC spokesperson, said the attack was a reprisal for the scores of crimes and atrocities committed by the military in the countryside.

Orobia cited the killing of Eddie Bellugo of Barangay Banquerohan, who was tagged as an NPA supporter, and the massacre of five farmers in Barangay Dolos, Bulan town in Sorsogon as just some of the abuses committed by government forces against civilians.^iv

On January 04, an armyofficer of the 72nd Division Reconnaissance Company were killed during a conducting combat operation. According to "PhilStar Global^v" the company were on duty in the region of Barangay Pacqued, Malibcong, Abra when they got attacked by around 40 suspected members of the NPA.