Two military pilots were confirmed dead after a FA-50 jet crashed during fighting with the Maoist NPA guerrillas in the Philippines. The jet was first reported “missing” after not returning from a combat mission. Authorities have now recovered the remains from the crash site in Mindanao.
The scene unraveled in the rugged mountains of Bukidnon, in the south of the archipelago. The government forces launched a counterinsurgency operation ahead of the 56th anniversary celebrations of the NPA at the end of March.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. They’ve been locked in one of the longest-running communist armed struggles in the world, pursuing its strategy of protracted people’s war.