3 People Wounded In NPA Rocket Attack In Sultan Kudarat

COTABATO CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 06 Jul) Three civilians, including a five-year old boy, were wounded in a rocket attack by suspected communist insurgents in the southern Philippine province of Sultan Kudarat, a security spokesman said Thursday.

Captain Jose Ritche Pabilonia, of the Southern Command, said New People's Army insurgents attacked a military post with automatic weapons and rocket grenades in the village of Telefas in Columbio town. "One of the houses in the area was hit and 3 people were wounded, including a five-year old boy," he said.

He said troops repelled the attack after a firefight that left a still undetermined number of insurgents dead or wounded. "There were no military casualties," he said.

Government soldiers early this week killed at least 7 NPA fighters in separate clashes in two towns if Compostela Valley province. The fighting broke out in the towns of Pantukan and Laak where troops tracking down NPA gunmen caught up with them.

Last week, security forces also seized a huge jungle encampment of the NPA after days of fighting in Busdi village in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province, northeast of Compostela Valley.

Fighting in the countryside have escalated after peace talks between communist rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front pulled out from the negotiations because of its inclusion to the terror lists of the United States and the European Union on Manila's prodding.

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, on Thursday suggested 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.