Monday, February 06, 2006
Rebels abduct mayor, attack police station
MANILA -- Communist rebels disguised as army troops on Sunday abducted a southern town mayor then seized assault rifles in an attack on a police station, the military said.
About 50 New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas forcibly took Jimmy Luna, mayor of Lingig town in Surigao del Sur province, then raided the town's police station, seizing nine rifles from policemen on duty before fleeing with the mayor in tow, military spokesman Colonel Tristan Kison said.
The rebels also seized three pistols from the mayor's bodyguards, Kison said.
The guerrillas have intensified their attacks in recent months in an effort to bring about the downfall of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she faces resignation calls over vote-rigging and corruption allegations.
The NPA, with about 8,500 fighters, has been waging a Marxist rebellion since the late 1960s.
The rebels suspended Norwegian-brokered talks with the Philippine government in 2004 to protest Manila's refusal to ask the United States and Europe to remove them from a list of terrorist groups. (AP)
(February 6, 2006 issue)
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