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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Communist rebels attack mining company, kill 3 Masbate cops
MANILA -- Communist rebels launched a string of attacks in Masbate province on Tuesday, setting fire to the building and equipment of a gold mining company and killing at least three police officers in an ambush, officials said.
In an early morning raid on Filminera Resources Corp. in Aroroy town, Masbate province, about 60 New People's Army rebels disarmed guards and razed five buildings and heavy equipment.
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They left improvised land mines and grenades as they retreated from the company's compound, Army Lieutenant Colonel Rhoderick Parayno said.
Soldiers were sent to the mining company to remove the land mines and grenades, he added.
It was not clear why the company was targeted, but the rebels, who have waged a 38-year-old insurgency, often attack companies that refuse to pay "revolutionary taxes."
Hours later, the guerrillas clashed with a group of soldiers in the same town, then ambushed members of the police Special Action Force traveling in a sport utility vehicle, killing at least three officers, police Inspector Leus Anselmo Prima said.
Three hours before the ambush, members of the police 11th Special Action Company clashed with heavily armed guerrillas in Aroroy town's Lahong village, injuring an 8-year-old boy who was hit in the crossfire, said Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla, the regional police chief.
The attacks occurred on the same day that Philippine National Police chief Oscar Calderon ordered the removal of the province's police director in connection with an ambush attempt Sunday on a mayoral candidate. The candidate survived but two of his supporters were killed.
The rebel attacks took place despite assurances by military chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon that government forces were on track in their campaign to cut the 7,000-member guerrilla force in half by 2010.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government also plans to declare the NPA a terror group under a new anti-terrorism law.
The rebels suspended Norwegian-brokered peace talks in 2004, claiming Arroyo's government had instigated their inclusion in US and European terror lists. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (April 4, 2007 issue)
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