TWO Army soldiers were injured on Sunday after they hit a land mine that was believed to have been planted by New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley, the military said.

The soldiers were identified as Pfc. Naser Usman and Pvt. Glenn Durias.

Maj. Armand Rico, public information officer of the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said Usman was injured in both thighs while Durias sustained a wound in his right arm.

Rico said the two stepped on a pressure-release land mine while on patrol in barangay New Leyte, Maco town, at around 11 a.m.

A pressure-release land mine is detonated when stepped on. It explodes immediately after the pressure is lifted, he explained.

Bomb disposal units were deployed to New Leyte  to defuse more land mines that were believed to have been planted in the area.

Meanwhile, communist guerrillas swooped down a wood-treating plant outside downtown Davao City and burned a crane on Saturday night.

A spot report by Senior Police Officer 1 Mariano Operario of the Bunawan Police Station said about seven rebels raided the Caraga Filchin Corp., a company that specializes in treating wooden electric posts.

The company is located in Capricorn, barangay Lasang, 26 kilometers northeast of downtown Davao City, and only about three kilometers from the police station. It is also three barangays northeast of Panacan, the headquarters of the Eastmincom.

Investigation showed that the guerrillas appeared to have waited for the lone guard, identified as Hernan Capon, to open the main guard post before accosting and disarming him of his shotgun. The guerrillas then entered the compound, overturned tables and poured gasoline on a crane before burning it.

The rebels fled eastward to barangay Katipunan in Panabo City. No casualties were reported. (With M. Cayon)

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NPA land mine injures two soldiers; rebels burn crane

TWO Army soldiers were injured on Sunday after they hit a land mine that was believed to have been planted by New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley, the military said.