As the intense firefight continues in Marawi City in the Southern Philippines between soldiers and local terrorists, the New People's Army (NPA) on Sunday morning raided a police station in the town of Maasin, Iloilo in Central Philippines disarming policemen and taking the police firearms with them.
The Philippine Provincial Office reported that 70 heavily armed men suspected to be NPA members made a surprise attack on the police station and after declaring the raid and handcuffed police.
Police reported that there were no casualties reported since the police did not fight back. The Maoist rebels also took the police car and drove away from raid scene.
Local Lawmaker Emmanuel Gallar went to the town hall of Maasin and reported to concerned officials about the incident to coordinate with the Philippine Army. Surprisingly, days before the raid, the Maoist rebels notified residents that they will raid the town hall soon.
The government has not issued any statement to the incident as the situation still unclear about how come Maoist rebels commit such an act when there is an ongoing peace dialogue series between the Filipino government and them.
The Filipino government last month cancelled their peace dialogue with the NPA after the latter attacked many police detachments throughout the country. Today's attack in the central Philippines is the most recent.
Earlier, Maoist rebels relayed their stance to Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza that they denounced and condemned the attack initiated by the ISIS-inspired terror group in Marawi City that killed more than 300 people.
Dureza said he received a call from the leader of National Democratic Front – New People's Army (NDF-NPA) who is in Europe, to dramatise their sentiments in condemning the terror attack.
But surprisingly, the Maoist rebels attacked Filipino security forces in Central Philippines again.
