Mawab, Compostela Valley Province - Government troops belonging to 101st Division Recon Company was attacked by communist terrorist New People's Army (NPA) while extricating the body of an NPA cadre who was killed in an encounter with the government troops the other day on March 11, 2011 at Mawab, Comval Province.
"This is another show of cowardice and treachery displayed by the NPA bandits when they used the internationally-banned improvised landmines against troops of 101DRC", says LTC Lyndon Paniza, the 10th Infantry Division spokesman.
Troops of 101DRC led by 1st Lieutenant Godofredo A. Despojo Jr were on their way back from Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Mipangi, Nabunturan, CVP after retrieving the abandoned body of a fallen NPA bandit when an improvised explosive device (IED) suddenly rocked them at Sitio Tanawan, Barangay Malinawon, Mawab.
A fifteen-minute exchange of fires ensued after the explosion. The NPAs escaped after the treacherous attack. Killed in the attack was 1st Lieutenant Despojo Jr. LTC Paniza says that it was the government troops' desire to bring down to the town proper the cadaver of an NPA member who was killed in an encounter last Wednesday, March 9, in order to allow the family and relatives to accord proper burial rites. He further said that most often, NPAs abandon their fallen comrades in encounter sites denying families and relatives of the chance to give decent burial.
This criminal act of continuous use by the NPAs of improvised landmines violates the Canada and the International Movement to ban landmines as prescribed in the Ottawa Protocol and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
