CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 16 Jul) Suspected communist insurgents attacked a military jeep and wounded two civilians passengers in the southern Philippine province of Misamis Oriental, officials said.
Officials said the attack occurred near the village of San Juan in Balingasag town on Saturday. The soldier driving the jeep was unhurt, but his two passengers who hitched for a ride, were wounded. Their conditions remain unknown, officials said.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities quickly put the blame on the New People's Army (NPA).
Three civilians, including a five-year old boy, were also wounded in a rocket attack earlier this month by suspected NPA insurgents in Sultan Kudarat province.
The NPA attacked a military post with automatic weapons and rocket grenades, but hit the civilians in the village of Telefas in Columbio town.
Clashes and rebels attacks in the countryside have escalated after peace talks between communist and government leaders collapsed in 2004 after the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front pulled out from the negotiations because of their inclusion to the terror lists of the United States and the European Union.
Rebel leaders originally demanded that President Gloria Arroyo asks the United States and the European Union to strike them off from the terror lists before they resume peace talks.
But the CPP said it was ready to resume peace negotiations with Manila, however, Eduardo Ermita, Arroyo's executive secretary, said rebels should first declare a truce before the resumption of the talks.
President Arroyo has ordered the military and the police to crush the NPA, the armed wing of the CPP-NDF, and set aside one billion pesos for the military to help fight insurgency and terrorism.
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