Commie Killed In Clash In South RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 26 Dec) – Troops shot dead a member of the communist rebel group New People’s Army in a clash Tuesday in the southern Philippines, the military said.

The fighting erupted in the town called Monkayo in Compostela Valley province, a known rebel stronghold in the troubled region.

The military said the soldiers were patrolling when they spotted a group of armed rebels and a firefight ensued.

The clash occurred just a day after a government unilateral truce ended. The NPA celebrated the 38th founding anniversary of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The CPP said it was stepping up recruitment of fighters to carry out fresh offensive against government targets.

"We must expand and intensify the tactical offensives of the people's army against the enemy. We must seize more arms from the enemy in order to form more platoons of the New People's Army and build more guerrilla fronts," the CPP said Tuesday.

"We must strive to advance from the early to the middle phase of the strategic defensive by multiplying the platoons and the guerrilla fronts, and improving command at the levels of the region and guerrilla fronts."

It called for the recruitment of tens of thousands of new members, emphasizing its importance in advancing the level of revolutionary struggle. And to take advantage of the intensifying struggles to expand its ranks.

"The intense and widespread armed and legal forms of struggle are providing a continuous flow of fresh highly motivated and militant Party recruits," it said.

Rebel leaders broke off peace talks with the Filipino government two years ago after the United States listed the CPP and its political wing the National Democratic Front and NPA as foreign terrorist groups on Manila’s prodding.

The NPA has been fighting the past three decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)