ZAMBOANGA CITY, 31 March 2004 — Security forces killed at least 8 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in fierce clashes yesterday in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said one government militia was also killed in the fighting that began around 6.45 a.m.
in the village of Awao in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province.”At least 8 rebels and a militiaman were killed in the fighting today,” the military’s Southern Command spokesman, Lt.
Col. Renoir Pascua, told reporters in Zamboanga City.
He said soldiers and militias were patrolling the village when they ran into a group of NPA rebels and a firefight ensued.
“Eight NPA members and a government militiaman have been killed in the fighting,” Pascua told Arab News.
Pascua said the fighting lasted about 2 hours and the rebels split into several groups and retreated to the hills when more government soldiers arrived in the village.
“There is an ongoing pursuit operation and military forces in the province have been alerted,” he said.
NPA forces also attacked Monday a military post on a village in Surigao del Sur’s San Miguel town.
The military said the fighting left an undetermined number of rebels dead and no government casualties.
The attack coincided with the celebration of the NPA’s 35th anniversary and rebel leaders vowed to mount more attacks against military and government targets across the country.
The military said two government militias were wounded in a weekend attack by about 100 NPA rebels in the hinterland village of Tapak in Paquibato district in Davao City’s outskirts.
Last week, rebel forces attacked a government-run geothermal power plant in Ormoc City in the central Philippine province of Leyte and killed three policemen and two civilians, the military said.
President Arroyo resumed negotiations last month with the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political arm the National Democratic Front (NDF) in an effort to end more than three decades of war with the rebels, but the attacks still continue despite the peace talks.
The talks were suspended in 2001 after NPA rebels assassinated two lawmakers despite a truce accord with the government.
Many security officials had opposed the resumption of the peace talks, which coincided with Arroyo’s campaign for another six-year term in the May 10 presidential election. They claimed the NPA is only using the peace talks to recruit new members and consolidate its forces.
The rebels have gone into rampage since early this year, attacking government targets that had already killed dozens of soldiers and policemen across the country.
The United States and the European Union tagged the CPP-NDF and the its armed wing the NPA, as foreign terrorist organizations and froze its assets abroad on Manila’s recommendation.
The rebels have demanded Manila to lift the terror tag.
