ZAMBOANGA CITY: Communist insurgents killed an Army soldier and wounded six others in ferocious clashes in Lanao del Sur, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, the military said Tuesday. It said soldiers from the 15th Division Reconnaissance Company clashed with about 50 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels at Barangay Malna in Kapai town. The Monday fighting erupted following earlier clashed in Barangay Kalilangan of Iligan City, Lanao del Norte. No immediate reports of enemy casualties in both clashes, but the military said “pursuit operations” were ongoing in both provinces to flush out rebel forces. Government troops had been battling communist rebels and pro-Islamic State (IS) bandits in the troubled Muslim region where the NPAs managed to establish strongholds in areas where caliphate fighters were operating. It was unclear if the communist rebels, who were fighting for secessionist for many decades now, had forged an alliance with pro-IS militants belonging to different groups in southern Philippines.
