Philippine police repulse rebel attack, kill two

MANILA, Aug 15 (Reuters) A 12-member police force repulsed an attack by about 100 communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, killing two guerrillas, police said today.

Then noon attack in San Agustin town on Mindanao Island was the first time local police officers had successfully defended and repulsed a rebel attack, officials said.

Antonio Nanas, police chief in the eastern part of Mindanao, said police fought the rebels for about an hour before reinforcements arrived, forcing the NPA guerrillas to withdraw.

''Our boys fought well,'' Nanas told reporters, adding only one police officer was wounded in the gun battle. ''The rebels fled in haste and left two dead comrades.'' Since January, NPA rebels have raided about 10 police stations across the country, seizing nearly 100 weapons without firing a shot by using deception and superior force, police say.

During 2005, the police lost around 75 assault rifles and pistols in about a dozen attacks.

The Maoist-led insurgency, running for nearly 40 years, has killed about 40,000 people and scared investors and tourists away from one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia.

The NPA, estimated to have more than 7,000 fighters, is active in 69 of 79 provinces, feeding on the country's social and economic problems of widespread poverty, injustice and neglect.

Peace talks with the communists, brokered by Norway, stalled in 2004 when Manila refused to help persuade Washington and some European states to remove the NPA from terrorism blacklists.

REUTERS KD HS1435