Manila: Three soldiers were killed in an ambush by Communist rebels in southern Luzon, a military official said.
The three were with nine soldiers on a patrol when landmines exploded and members of the communist New Peoples’ Army (NPA) opened gunfire in Maninila village, Camalig town, Albay province at 8.30am on Monday, Maj. Angelo Guzman, spokesman of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, said in a radio interview.
The NPA rebels snatched one K3 squad automatic and two M16 rifles from the soldiers, Guzman said.
Pursuit operations did not result in the arrest of NPA rebels.
The NPA is the armed wing of the 45-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It is the longest-running communist insurgency in Southeast Asia.
After holding a brief resumption of peace talks in 2010, the National Democratic Front (NDF) demanded the release of all arrested communist leaders who were peace consultants, saying they have inked an agreement giving immunity from arrest to peace negotiators.
At the same time, the government has sought a ceasefire agreement. The NDF refused, saying they had agreed on political settlements before signing a ceasefire.
Both the Philippine government and the NDF have not reached a consensus on their counter-demands, resulting in an impasse since 2010. The government and NDF have been holding on-and-off peace talks since 1992.
In 2004, leftist negotiators refused to return to the negotiating table after the Philippine government allowed the United States and the European Union to include the CPP-NPA in their list of foreign terror groups.
