Six soldiers were hurt after the New People's Army (NPA) rebels bombed an anti-personnel mine in the upland Quirino Village in Las Navas, Northern Samar on Sunday.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Jeomar Buban, the commander of the Philippine Army's 20th Infantry Battalion, the troopers obtained wounds while securing a water system project of the national government's Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP).
He said that they were attacked while doing their best to assist the former conflict-affected communities through their Mobile Community Support and Sustainment Program Teams.
Moreover, Quirino village is among the seven communities in Las Navas that are recepients of the 2022 SBDP - a project of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
Meanwhile, the NPA has been known for blowing up banned anti-personnel mines in the province.
In 2022, three mine blasts were reported from April to July in Northern Samar.
NPA rebels use banned explosives since they cannot face the soldiers in an armed encounter.
Northern Samar is known as the hotbed of the armed rebels due to its thick forest and poor road networks.
