THE Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership headed by General Dionardo B. Carlos on Friday strongly condemned the latest atrocities perpetrated by communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas on government humanitarian and disaster response missions in Visayas and Mindanao this week.

Carlos in particular echoed the condemnation by the Department of the Interior and Local Government of the twin attacks staged by the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA in Samar and Surigao del Sur provinces on government personnel and civilians engaged in preemptive evacuation operations ahead of the onslaught of typhoon “Odette.”

“These are totally deplorable actions by the local communist terrorists that deserve the strongest condemnation of civil society,” the top cop said.

Carlos vowed to mobilize the full might of the PNP to “arrest the authors and actors of these crimes against humanity”.

In Bgy. Esperanza, Carmen, Surigao del Sur, NPA terrorists ambushed a convoy of soldiers, health workers and evacuees moving to safer ground as local authorities ordered preemptive evacuation of residents in perennial geohazard communities. Surigao del Sur Governor Alexander Pimentel reported the death of three civilians in the attack.

However, Police Regional Office 13 director, Brigadier Gen. Romeo M. Caramat Jr. said that only two civilians were hurt late Wednesday morning when a band of heavily-armed NPA gunmen attacked a group of Army soldiers helping in the evacuation of residents living in Carmen municipality.

According to Caramat, four members of the Army’s 36th Infantry Battalion were on board a pickup truck cruising along Bgy. Cancavan in Carmen at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday when they came under heavy fire from the leftist gunmen.

As a result, two motorcycle-riding civilians who were tailing the soldiers’ vehicle were hit by bullets and taken to the Madrid District Hospital where they were declared under stable condition.

Carlos ordered Caramat to see to it that the NPA gunmen responsible for the attack will be identified and fully charged in court.

Caramat said that no casualty was reported on the side of the soldiers. “We got reports that the rebels suffered an undetermined number of casualties when the troopers returned fire. There is also truth to reports that three died as a result of the attack,” he said.

The Caraga police director said the Carmen Municipal Police Station is still investigating the incident and will file charges for double frustrated murder and direct assault against the attackers.

Caramat said all local police units in the region are now busy helping the regional disaster risk reduction and management council composed by local government units and the Armed Forces in helping residents living in low-lying areas and flood- and landslide-prone amid the threats posed by the typhoon.

In Eastern Visayas on the same day, two PNP Special Action Force troopers and a civilian were wounded in another NPA attack in Bgy. del Rosario in Matuguinao, Samar while police and local government authorities were prepositioning relief supplies and provisions to high-risk communities along the projected path of typhoon “Odette.”

Wounded in the attack were Corporals Abner Balante and Manuel Carlos and civilian Jomar Diaz.