Communist rebels kill 3 soldiers in Philippines

Manila, May 28: Maoist-led guerrillas killed three soldiers and wounded three in a four-hour gun battle in the central Philippines, an army spokesman said today.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rhoderick Parayno said the soldiers yesterday were chasing a group of communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels who burned a mobile phone relay tower on Masbate island when they stumbled into the guerrillas' base.

''Our troops were outnumbered, but they held their ground for four hours until reinforcements came and forced the rebels to withdraw,'' Parayno said, adding three soldiers were killed and three were wounded in the battle.

''We believed the rebels suffered heavy casualties. Local residents reported seeing the rebels carrying their dead and wounded in pushcarts.'' Parayno said the rebels left behind guns, explosives, including an improvised landmine, supplies and documents detailing plans to attack army positions and private businesses on the island.

The Philippine military said the NPA had been attacking a number of businesses, such as telephone, mining and logging companies in the provinces, for refusing to pay ''revolutionary taxes'' to the rebel movement.

Since 1969, the NPA rebels have waged a protracted rebellion that has killed more than 40,000 people and slowed growth in one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered an all-out war on the 7,0000- member NPA rebels, who are based in rural areas in 69 of 81 provinces, engaging security forces in deadly tit-for-tat battles.

Peace talks, brokered by Norway, collapsed in August 2004 when the United States and some Western European states put the NPA and its leader, Jose Maria Sison, on terrorism blacklists.

Reuters>