MANILA, Philippines - Government troops captured a "child warrior" of the communist New People’s Army after a landmine attack in Makilala town, North Cotabato Monday.

Col. Alejandro Estomo, commander of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said the suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the province following his arrest in Barangay Singatulan.

“The suspect is now in the custody of Makilala DWSD for safekeeping, being a minor. (The) use of children and minors in armed conflict is condemned by international law, especially in the law of warfare and human rights,” he said.

Estomo said the boy was among those who remotely detonated a landmine on a military vehicle carrying troops of the 57th Infantry Battalion around 11 a.m. Monday at the vicinity of Sitio Giansing, Barangay Bulatukan. He said members of the Front Committee of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee used a 50-meter electric wire to detonate the landmine.

No one was killed or hurt in the blast that damaged the vehicle.

In a separate incident, Army troopers apprehended two NPA insurgents at a checkpoint in Catanauan town in Quezon around 10:30 a.m. Monday, said Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesman of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.

The two were Rhea Pereja, alias Ka Kear and Janwa, who has a pending warrant for murder; and Leonito Dichoso. Detoyato said Pereja is the deputy political leader of the NPA in the Bondoc Peninsula.

Seized from the two were two cal. 45 pistols, three magazines, a laptop computer, two grenades, two improvised explosives and P100,000 in permit to campaign fees collected from unnamed politicians.

Detoyato said troops from the 71st Infantry Battalion set up the checkpoint after receiving a tip that Pereja was going to pass the area.