JTF Storm obliterates NPA’s Northern Samar lair with surgical airstrikes

By DPAO, 8ID PA
October 27, 2019

CAMP LUKBAN, Catbalogan City – Joint Task Force STORM under the Central Command, Armed Forces of the Philippines destroyed a confirmed New People’s Army (NPA) encampment in the hinterland of Barangay Caputoan, Las Navas, Northern Samar in the early morning of October 26, 2019.

Utilizing the Philippine Air Force (PAF) supersonic FA-50 jets to conduct surgical airstrikes to deliver 500-pound bombs, the JTF surprised the group of more or less 50 NPA terrorists operating in Northern Samar led by Ceriaco Jerusalem aka CADO.

JTF Storm and 8th Infantry Division, Philippine Army Commander, Major General Pio Q. Diñoso III orchestrated the joint operations to locate and annihilate the said NPA group which had been monitored doing extortion from the communities in the province. Thus, the AFP’s modernization efforts had been put to effective use and will continue to be employed in the neutralization of the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) in Eastern Visayas in adherence with Executive Order 70, otherwise known as Institutionalizing the Whole-of-Nation Approach in attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Peace, Creating a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).”, said Diñoso.

Upon the conduct of bomb damage assessment in the impact area by ground troops yesterday, the surgical airstrike resulted to the obliteration of makeshift huts in the rebel camp and initial recovery of evidences of NPA activities and presence to include: 11 civilian backpacks, 3 military-type backpacks, 7 hammocks, 2 sacks of rice, assorted food supplies, 1 box of dried fish, 2 sacks of land mine, 3 cellphones with chargers, 1 ICOM radio, 1 laptop, 1 landline tester, 11 flash drives, 4 SIM cards, 2 external drives, assorted blasting caps, 1 roll of detonating wire, 4 live ammo for shotgun, 13 live ammo for M16, 1 empty magazine for carbine, 2 improvised grenades, 2 anti-tank land mines, assorted medical supplies, and subversive documents.

Ongoing search and pursuit operations by troops under the 803rd Infantry Brigade are being sustained to ensure that the CTGs are caught. Bloodstains along the path of the fleeing rebels indicate the heavy casualties inflicted on the communist terrorists.