ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 13 Mar) At least 11 rebels and soldiers were killed and five others seriously wounded in fierce fighting between security forces and communist insurgents in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Sur, officials said Monday.
Officials said at least 8 New People's Army (NPA) rebels and three soldiers were killed in the fighting that broke out Sunday in the villages of Don Pedro and Dimasalang in San Luis town, said Lt. Col. Francisco Simbahon, the spokesman for the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
Simbahon said a still undetermined number of rebels and five soldiers were also wounded in the clashes. "Operations against the New People's Army are ongoing and General Cardozo Luna ordered an intensified combat to neutralize the enemies," he told the Zamboanga Journal.
Officials said at least 8 New People's Army (NPA) rebels and three soldiers were killed in the fighting that broke out Sunday in the villages of Don Pedro and Dimasalang in San Luis town, said Lt. Col. Francisco Simbahon, the spokesman for the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
Simbahon said a still undetermined number of rebels and five soldiers were also wounded in the clashes. "Operations against the New People's Army are ongoing and General Cardozo Luna ordered an intensified combat to neutralize the enemies," he told the Zamboanga Journal.
Luna is the commander of the 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City in northern Mindanao.
In Zamboanga City, the Southern Command said the soldiers who died in the fighting were victims of a landmine explosion. "The rebels detonated a landmine and killed the three soldiers," said Maj. Gamal Hayudini.
Both spokesmen did not identify any of those killed, but other sources said one of them was an army lieutenant, who sustained a fatal wound from the explosion.
But Hayudini condemned the NPA for using anti-personnel landmines -- which is banned around the world under the Geneva Convention -- in carrying out attacks against security forces.
"The use of landmines is banned around the world and we condemned the NPA for their continuous use of these types of explosives," he said.
Aside from the Geneva Convention, the 1997 Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty prohibits of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer or anti-personnel mines and on their destruction.
On Friday, two government soldiers were also killed and 11 others wounded in separate clashes between military and NPA forces in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.
The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.
Peace negotiations between Manila and rebels collapsed in 2004 following the NDF pullout from the talks due to its continued inclusion in the terror lists of the United States and the European Union.
Rebel leaders 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.
The NPA vowed to step up attacks on government targets after Manila suspended safety and immunity guarantee for its negotiators following the collapse of the peace talks.
The military has accused the CPP and the NPA of forging an alliance with rightist soldiers to oust Arroyo and put up a coalition-revolutionary government.
The NPA vowed to step up attacks on government targets after Manila suspended safety and immunity guarantee for its negotiators following the collapse of the peace talks.
The military has accused the CPP and the NPA of forging an alliance with rightist soldiers to oust Arroyo and put up a coalition-revolutionary government.
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