The military yesterday called on the leadership of the New People’s Army to spare the minors, and stay away from communities that choose to live in peace.

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, 3rd Infantry Division commander, made the appeal in the wake of the explosion of an improvised bomb Sunday in Tapaz, Capiz, that claimed the life of a minor, and injured her sister.

Mabanta said the four decades of armed struggle by the NPA only brought senseless deaths and miseries to the lives of innocent civilians.

He identified the fatality in the explosion at a residence in Brgy. Tacayan, Tapaz, Capiz, as Rodelyn Aguirre,6, while 5-year-old younger sister, Roda, was injured, military records show.

Capt. Reylan Java, 3ID Public Affairs Office chief, said the explosion was caused by lapses in of assembling the improvised bomb.

Java said they received reports from civilian witnesses that two NPA rebels were also seriously injured.

Suspected rebels also used an improvised explosive device in blasting a sugar transloading station in Sigma, Capiz, after its management reportedly refused to pay revolutionary taxes, military records also showed.

Since 2009, the 61st and 82nd Infantry Battalions recovered nine improvised explosives devices from NPA camps overran in Igbaras and Miag-ao, Iloilo, and Tapaz in Capiz, Java said.*GPB

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