CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga – A suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebel was killed in a clash with government troops Saturday afternoon in Tarlac, police reported Monday.

Reports reaching the office of Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo A. Dela Cruz, said that the firefight between an estimated 30 heavily armed NPA rebels and elements of Army’s 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion (MIB) occurred in Sitio Bunga in Barangay Maasin in San Clemente town.

Dela Cruz identified the casualties as Ka Razel Laborete, who was also known as “Ka Paeng” and “Ka Joey,” in the armed communist movement in Central Luzon.

The information gathered by Army intelligence disclosed that Laborete is also a Muslim from Mayantoc, Tarlac.