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Thursday, March 23, 2006
3 killed, 2 wounded in rebel ambush in Zamboanga province
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA -- Three government soldiers were killed and two others wounded in clashes between security forces and communist insurgents in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay.
Members of the New People's Army (NPA) also raided a police station in the province of Misamis Occidental on Monday, the same time insurgents killed three soldiers and wounded two more in Kabasalan town in Zamboanga Sibugay.
The rebels attacked a group of patrolling soldiers in the village of Siolan before noontime. Another rebel faction also attacked a police station in Sapang Dalaga town and seized at least 9 automatic weapons.
The five policemen manning the station were taken by surprise and were not able to put up a fight when NPA guerrillas in military uniform disarmed the station were held by the raiders, but freed all of them later.
There were no reports of NPA casualties.
Fierce fighting last week between military and rebel forces also left 11 people dead on both sides in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Sur.
At least 8 rebels and three soldiers were killed in the fighting that broke out in the villages of Don Pedro and Dimasalang in San Luis town, said Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Simbahon, the spokesman for the Army's 4th Infantry Division. Five soldiers were also wounded in the clashes.
The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.
Peace negotiations between Manila and rebels collapsed in 2004 following the NDF pullout from the talks due to its continued inclusion in the terror lists of the United States and the European Union. Rebel leaders demanded that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo asks the United States and the European Union to strike them off from the terror lists before they resume peace talks.
The rebels stepped up attacks on government targets after Manila suspended safety and immunity guarantee for its negotiators following the collapse of the peace talks.
The military has accused the CPP and the NPA of forging an alliance with rightist soldiers to oust Arroyo and put up a coalition-revolutionary government.
(March 23, 2006 issue)
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