Scout Rangers sent to go after NPA rebels in airport attack
Quezon City (9 October) -- The military has dispatched an entire company, or roughly 120 troops, from the elite Scout Rangers to run after a band of 30 communist guerillas that attacked a major airport in the central Philippines, a spokesman said.
Troops from the Army's 11th and 61st Infantry Battalions were also deployed to augment police security at the Silay City airport, which sustained some 30 million pesos in damages following a pre-dawn attack on Sunday, Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.
At the same time, as a standard operating procedure, military units nationwide have been alerted against possible attacks from the New People's Army (NPA), Bacarro told a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo.
"After the attack, ground commanders in the area have directed a realignment of forces. The 3rd Scout Ranger Company has been dispatched to track down the perpetrators," Bacarro said.
"We will also look into possible lapses [of security forces]. But as of now, we have not received the after-operations report [on the attack]," he said. (PIA) [top]