Notorious NPA leader slain in South

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Government soldiers killed a senior New People's Army leader who was top on the military's battle list for his notoriety and involvement in a string of crimes from murders to kidnappings in southern Philippines, officials said on Saturday.

A photo released by the Eastern Mindanao Command to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner shows the body of the slain NPA leader Emmanuel Anub.

Officials said Emmanuel B. Anub Sr., alias Salem, who was an executive committee member of the communist North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC) and secretary of both sub-regional committee westland and guerilla front 21, was slain in the village of  San Juan in Bayugan City on Thursday, March 30.

"He had 23 pending warrants of arrests and criminal cases for murder, multiple frustrated murder, arson, kidnapping, illegal detention, robbery with intimidation, and other crimes," said Army Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City.

Almerol said troops also recovered Anub's AK-47 assault rifle, six magazines with ammunition, a bandoleer, a cellular phone, and subversive documents. He branded the dead rebel leader as "notorious" and lauded troops for killing Anub. 

The operation was mounted by members of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion after an intelligence report pinpointed Anub's hideout, but Almerol did not release details of the assault. Prior to the raid, soldiers also killed two high-ranking members of the NEMRC during a skirmish in the same village on March 27.

"The death of Salem will finally end the countless atrocities brought by the CTG (communist terrorist group) in some parts of Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, and Surigao del Sur. Let his end be an example to other NPA personalities still terrorizing the people in our area that their time is up," said Almerol, who vowed to continue their relentless military operations to destroy the rebel group which has been fighting for many decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)