Six persons, including four policemen, were wounded after suspected New People’s Army rebels detonated two homemade bombs during a clash with police commandos in Sorsogon on Monday.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Debold Sinas said 11 members of the 92nd Special Action Company were on board a troop carrier truck on an administrative mission to undergo RT-PCR testing when they were alerted at around 7:15 a.m. by some civilians along the national highway in Barangay Putiao, Pilar, Sorsogon about the presence of rebels who were reportedly extorting on Visayas-bound rolling cargo stranded on the road due to storm Auring.
As the PNP – Special Action Force (SAF) troopers approached to validate the information, the rebels reportedly opened fire at the police team and detonated two homemade bombs, triggering a 20 minute firefight.
Wounded during the explosion were two civilians and four policemen, whom the police did not identify.
Police bomb squad troopers recovered an unexploded homemade bomb, 50 meters of electrical wire and a 40 mm fired cartridge case from the scene of the encounter.
Sinas mobilized maneuver forces of the Police Regional Office 5 to link up with the 9th Special Action Battalion of the PNP-SAF that is engaged in tactical operations against the fleeing rebels.