The fighting at the weekend broke out in the towns of Pantukan and Laak where troops caught up separately with New People's Army (NPA) rebels, triggering a running gun battle that left at least 7 gunmen dead, said Lt. Col. Francisco Simbajon, of the 4th Infantry Division.
"At least seven rebels are dead. There is an ongoing operation in the province and soldiers are pursuing the rebels," he told the Zamboanga Journal.
Simbajon said there were no reports of military casualties and that soldiers recovered assorted personal belongings of rebels and a list of suspected loggers who were paying so-called "revolutionary" taxes to the NPA, the military wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.
The military did not give more details about the operation, but said more soldiers were sent to the area to help flush out the NPA rebels in the province.
Last week, security forces occupied a huge jungle encampment of the NPA after days of fighting the village of Busdi in Malaybalay City in Bukdinon 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.
Rebels 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. Manila rejected the demand and suspended safety and immunity guarantee for rebel peace negotiators following the collapse of the talks.
President Arroyo has ordered the military 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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