DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 13, 2008) – Four communist rebels and a government militia were killed in separate clashes Monday in Mindanao, a regional army spokesman said.
Major Armand Rico said about 60 New People’s Army rebels attacked a military patrol base at around 4 a.m. in the village of Kingking in Pantukan town in Compostela Valley province.
Troops, from the 72nd Infantry Battalion, fought the rebel forces for three hours until they retreated, Rico said, adding, the clash left two NPA gunmen and a government militia dead.
“Troops repelled the attacks and killed two rebels, but one of our militias was also slain in the fighting,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said another group of rebel forces also clashed with soldiers belonging to the 60th Infantry Battalion shortly before 10 a.m. in Palma Gil village in Davao del Norte’s Talaingod town.
The fighting, he said, also left two NPA rebels killed and none of the military side.Two army soldiers were also killed in the town when NPA rebels ambushed a military truck transporting provisions to troops in the province.
The NPA is fighting for decades to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the Philippines.
Rebel leaders broke off peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on a deal that would have freed thousands of political detainees and put a stop to the extra-judicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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