Three soldiers die in Quezon attack

Three soldiers were killed while nine others were wounded in a clash with the communist New People's Army in Tiaong town, Quezon province, officials said yesterday.

Around 5:20pm, a patrolling party of the 1st Infantry Battalion clashed with 50 NPA members in Cabatang village.

The firefight left an undetermined number of rebels either wounded or killed, but they were taken away by the rebels, army spokesman Major Bartolome Bacarro said.

"Clothings with bloodstains were recovered during clearing operations," Bacarro said, adding that the rebels could have changed into civilian clothes to enable them to blend with the populace and elude pursuing troops.

Senior Superintendent Victor Caragan, Quezon police chief, said the gunbattles forced some 100 families to flee their homes in Barangays Lumingon, Lusakan, Sapatan, Anastacia and Lagalag, all located in Tiaong. Police were helping the families in evacuating the affected villages, said Caragan.

The latest clash brings to 13 the number of security force personnel killed in separate shootouts with the NPA rebels since Saturday. An additional 32 soldiers and policemen have also been wounded in the said clashes.

On Sunday, a policeman was killed while three others were injured in a firefight with NPA fighters also in Tiaong. Before dawn on Monday, the military killed 10 suspected guerrillas in Palo town in Leyte province in central Philippines.

Militant leaders, however, claimed those killed and arrested were ordinary farmers who were holding protest rallies against a landlord who refused to undertake agrarian reform.

Phone transmission tower bombed

Members of the New People's Army bombed a cellular phone transmission tower of Globe Telecom Inc, a major telecommunications network, in Lucban town, Quezon province, in the southern Luson, 160km southeast of Manila, yesterday, police said.

At around 1pm, some 30 NPA guerrillas barged into the company's compound, and detonated improvised bombs on the tower and its generator, said Inspector Henry Ohagan, Lucban police chief.