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Monday, October 10, 2005
5 soldiers, 3 others killed in ambush
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Five soldiers and three civilians were killed Sunday after communist insurgents detonated two homemade bombs planted near a road in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said four more soldiers were wounded in the attack near the village of Betibot in the town of Sapang Dalaga in Misamis Occidental after New People's Army (NPA) guerillas detonated the bombs around 11 a.m.
Among those killed in the attack were a unit commander and three civilians said to be dependents of the soldiers, Major General Gabriel Habacon, commander of the Army's First Infantry Division, said.
"We are pursuing the insurgents who fled after the attack," he said by phone from a command post in the province.
The victims were onboard a mini-truck when the insurgents attacked. The wounded soldiers fought the attackers until more government reinforcements arrived in the village, he said.
There were no reports of fresh clashes between security and rebel forces, but troops were tracking down the attackers in the town's hinterland.
"There will be no let-up in the operation. We will get them," Habacon said.
Communist insurgents have vowed to intensify attacks on government targets after the government suspended safety and immunity guarantee for rebel negotiators following the collapse of peace talks.
"The New People's Army will continue to intensify its tactical offensives and deal more frequent and more powerful blows against Arroyo's increasingly fascist rule. The people's armed revolution will only grow stronger in proportion to worsening fascism under Arroyo," rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal said.
The government suspended the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (Jasig) after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the its political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), pulled out from the peace negotiations.
With the suspension of immunity guarantee, rebel negotiators now are at risk of being arrested on charges ranging from rebellion to other crimes.
The CPP and the NDF are demanding that Manila ask the United States and the European Union to strike them off from their lists of foreign terror organizations. The US and the EU blacklisted the CPP, NDF and the NPA on Manila's prodding, and froze their assets abroad.
Peace negotiations between the government and the rebel group have been suspended since August last year, following the NDF pullout due to their continued inclusion in the terror lists.
Security officials have previously asked the government not to negotiate with the rebels until they sign a ceasefire agreement. They said the rebels have used the peace talks to recruit and consolidate their forces and continue attacking government targets despite the negotiations.
(October 10, 2005 issue)
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