[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’4 PSG hurt in clash; peace talks at risk’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – Four personnel of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were wounded during an encounter with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Arakan town, North Cotabato province yesterday.
The clash happened around 6:15 a.m. in Barangay Gambudes, along the Davao-Arakan route, according to Lieutenant Colonel Mike Aquino, PSG spokesperson.
Aquino clarified that the incident was not an ambush. The PSG personnel were the ones who fired first at a suspicious-looking band of people clad in military uniforms, he said.
As of this writing, Aquino had no information whether or not there were casualties on the side of the suspected rebels but said the PSG encountered “more than 50” armed fighters.
President Rodrigo Duterte was not with the PSG at the time, aides said.
The clash happened while Mindanao is under martial law and the military is fighting the Maute terrorist group in Marawi City.
In light of the encounter, Duterte threatened to end peace talks with communist rebels.
“The president directed the government panel … not to resume formal peace talks unless the Reds (leftist rebels) agree to stop their attacks against government troops in Mindanao,” read part of a statement from Malacañang.
Duterte was planning to send negotiators shortly to an unspecified venue and informally discuss a possible bilateral ceasefire agreement, the Palace said.
But it warned that for formal peace talks to resume, the rebels must commit to “suspending operations against the military and the police and stopping all their extortion activities on the ground.”
Aquino said the PSG personnel just came from Camp Panacan in Davao City at the time.
On board two vehicles, they were bound for Cagayan de Oro for “admin movement,” which was part of efforts to coordinate with other security personnel, when they saw suspicious-looking men at a military checkpoint that turned out fake.
“More than 50 armed men wearing military uniform were at the checkpoint … bearing the ‘Task Force Davao’ sign. They posed as soldiers,” Aquino said in Filipino.
Doubting the identities of those in military uniform, the PSG personnel stopped before reaching the checkpoint. An exchange of gunfire followed, he said.
The wounded presidential guards were taken to the nearest hospital while the military launched a pursuit operation against the suspected NPA rebels.
Aquino declined to comment if the incident was part of the NPA’s effort to taunt Duterte before his State of the Nation Address on July 24.
But a senior Mindanao military official, Brigadier General Gilberto Gapay, said the NPA was behind the attack. “This is part of their nationwide call for armed groups to oppose martial law by launching intensified offensives against government forces,” he told radio station dzBB in Manila. (PNA and AFP)
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
