Troops overrun communist rebel camp in Bukidnon

GOVERNMENT troops overran a huge communist rebel camp in Bukidnon province in the southern Philippines and seized a cache of explosives believed to be intended for use in landmine attacks, a military official said Monday.

With the help of civilian informants, soldiers from the Army’s 403rd Brigade tracked down the camp, composed of 141 bunkers, in Sitio (sub-village) Bendum, Busdi village in Malaybalay City at around 12:45 p.m. Thursday, said Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Simbajon, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

An undetermined number of rebels fled the camp following a 10-minute firefight that left no casualties, Simbajon said in a phone interview.

Minutes later, Army troopers discovered a satellite camp composed of 23 bunkers about 200 meters away, Simbajon said.

Troops recovered 120 sticks of “superdyne explosives” or bomb materials and a sack of subversive documents from the two camps, he said.

“These [bomb components] could be used to manufacture landmines and other improvised explosives,” he said.

INQ7