The slain policeman was identified as Police Officer 1 Jose Sobron, member of 1150th Police Provincial Group (PPMG) stationed at Sitio Tambac.

The identities of the slain rebels were not immediately known. Their bodies were brought to the town proper for identification.

The wounded policemen were Police Officer 1 Malindog and PO1 Depena. They were immediately brought to the Baganga District Hospital for treatment.

They were later declared out of danger by physicians.

A spot report reaching the operation center of the Army area command center here stated the attacking rebel forces tried to overrun the 1150tth PPMG station, but the policemen gallantly defended their post and engaged the dissidents in a fierce firefight for more than 30 minutes.

Sensing that the first 15-man attacking force could not penetrate the 1st and 2nd defense perimeters of the police defenders’ barrage of high-powered automatic gunfires, the rebels immediately withdrew towards a nearby forest, leaving their slain companions, Lt. Col. Francisco I. Simbajon, regional Army spokesman, said.

A spot report from the 404th Infantry Brigade stated the rebels escaped after sensing that reinforcing combat troops from the 67th Infantry Battallion were coming, Simbajon said.

Combined "hot pursuit" operation launched by military and police forces against the fleeing rebels was still going on as yesterday afternoon, the field report further said.

Government forces pursued the rebels towards Dalid, Barangay Batawan, Baganga town.

Colonel Simbajon said the combat troops were running after a rebel band of the Front Committee 15 of the CPP-NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) led by Nemesio Monday, alias "Commander Rex."