BUTUAN City—Joint police combat patrol in ahinter village of a border municipality of Agusan del Sur and Compostela valley provinces overran a temporary encampment believed to be of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, early morning on Sunday after a 15-minute fi refi ght, police reports said. Reports from Agusan del Sur Provincial Police said that the joint operatives of the Agusan del Sur Public Safety Company (ADS PPSC) and the 133rd Regional Public Safety Company (133rd RPSC) while doing a combat patrol at 5:28 a.m. on Sunday at the border of the hinter villages Brgy. Masayan and Caigangan of Veruela town, a border municipality of Agusan del Sur and Compostela Valley Provinces, chanced upon the NPA temporary encampment which can accordingly accommodate about 30 persons. Police said that the joint patrol conducted the combat patrol amid reports from the residents in the area regarding the presence of some armed groups in their locality. The military patrols were accordingly fired upon first by the armed group as they were approaching the area. The government troops returned fi re which resulted to a 15-minute fi refight, after which the armed group withdrew towards some unknown direction. The government troops suffered no casualties during the incident and recovereditems which the rebels had left behind in their haste, the police report said. Recovered by the operating troops from the encounter site includes: detonating cord wire, an improvised explosive device (IED), four plasticized canvass for sheltering, an electronic tester, fi ve blasting caps, assorted medicines and subversive documents with highly intelligence value. A composite team from the PPSC and the RPSC and other friendly forces operating in the area are now conducting hot pursuit operations against the fleeing enemies believed to be under the rebel’s Guerrilla Front 3. The recovered items are now in custody of the operating troops and will be turned over to the crime laboratory for appropriate examinations. PNA