Sparrow Unit strikes anew in Davao

Rebel liquidation nets 2nd victim

    A communist liquidation team shot dead a fire officer  in Kapalong, Davao del Norte on Saturday night in fresh attacks by the assassins known as the Sparrow Unit.

The killing of Fire Officer 2 Sancho Natividad had the hallmark of a rebel assassination, said police. On Friday night, Police Officer Elvis Espanola was also shot dead in Mati, Davao Oriental in a killing police also blamed on the death squad.

Both law enforcers were shot dead while attending to their family stores.

Police said teams of two men carried out the separate gun attacks on Natividad and Espanola, fleeing on motorcycles after taking the police officers’ guns.

The regional police here said assassination by the New Peoples Army Sparrow Unit is part of communist campaign to gain lost grounds. The AFP in a statement last week said it was expecting a rise in assassination by rebels of police and military personnel, militiamen and civilians.

In Davao City two weeks ago, communist rebels claimed responsibility for the killing of trader Vicente Ferrazini, who was shot dead in a busy intersection in Davao City. The NPA Merardo Arce Command in a statement accused Ferrazini of being anti-people and counter-revolutionary for allowing the military to set up a camp in his farming estate in Catigan, Toril at the outskirts of Davao City.