TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines ? Suspected New People?s Army rebels attacked soldiers in a village in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, Tuesday evening, killing a soldier and sending panicked residents scampering for safety, the military said Wednesday.

Private Joel Quijano died from a gunshot wound in the body while being taken to the Compostela Valley provincial hospital in Montevista town, minutes after the 7 p.m. encounter at the vicinity of Barangay (Village) San Isidro, Chief Insp. Roderico Roy Jr., municipal police chief said.

Soldiers from the Army?s 3rd Special Forces Company were conducting patrol operations there when they encountered five communist guerrillas led by a Ka Jinggoy, which resulted in a brief fire fight, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military?s Eastern Mindanao Command, said.

?The soldiers were part of an Army force tasked to locate those responsible for the attack on a militia detachment in Barangay Casoon on Nov. 2,? Cabangbang told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.

Residents ran for cover and terrified mothers picked up their hysterical children as soldiers took positions and began firing back at the attackers, Evelyn Bertulfo, village chief, recounted.

?The soldier (Quijano) was cooking supper at the school kitchen when a shot rang out. He called to his comrades that he was shot ? and the other soldiers then started firing. I instantly dropped to the floor inside one of the classrooms,? stay-in teacher Angela Bordaje told the Inquirer.

Bertulfo said the troops had arrived at the village after lunch and stayed there until the clash happened.

The village is the birthplace of the elusive Jinggoy, according to Bertulfo.

The military vowed to continue operations against the rebels in the area despite earlier rebel harassments to government positions.

?Everybody was really scared,? Bordaje said, adding that classes were suspended in the village?s six-room elementary school as parents were too afraid to send their children to school.

?Another gunfight might erupt again,? the teacher said.