Manila: At least 12 people, including seven members of the military, died in a landmine blast as leftist rebels launched a series of attacks in four areas of the southern Philippines on Monday, sources said.

Two policemen died and three others were wounded when 50 militants of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA), led by a commander Felix Armodia of the NPA’s Front 7, fired on a police detachment in Matanao town, Davao del Sur at 4.30am on Monday, Captain William Rodriguez, spokesperson of the Army’s 1002nd Brigade, said in a report.

Repelled by the police unit, the NPAs, wearing military fatigues and using three vehicles, attacked a military detachment in nearby Doganpekong at 5am, Captain Rodriguez said, adding that no one died in the attack.

However, seven soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in a landmine blast at Asbang Village where the contending parties continued clashing at nine in the morning. The NPA was blamed for setting the landmine, Rodriguez said, adding that a combined force of military and police officials arrested nine NPA members.

Three NPA members were eventually killed as clashes progressed to nearby Saboy Village, Rodriguez said.

Last week, 17 soldiers and civilians were injured when a landmine set by communist rebels exploded in Davao del Sur. A bomb hit a convoy of ambulances that responded to the incident.

The NPA is the armed wing of the 46-year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the oldest leftist group in Southeast Asia.

The National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the CPP-NPA, has been engaged in on and off peace talks with the Philippine government since 1992.

Talks were stalled as the government refused to respond to the NDF’s demanded for the release of arrested rebel leaders who served as peace negotiators. The NDF has also refused the government’s demand for the forging of a ceasefire agreement before they continue holding peace talks.

The CPP-NPA has control over 70 per cent of far-flung villages that hardly receive government services nationwide, sources said.