10 NPA members, five soldiers killed in clashes

Ten communist New People's Army (NPA) members and five soldiers were killed in fresh clashes from Thursday to Friday in Boston town, Davao Oriental, southern Philippines, said a military and police report.

Seven soldiers were also wounded as helicopter gunships backed government ground troopers in the battle that erupted between Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces of Mindanao. This was confirmed by Brig. Gen. Felipe Berroya, commander of the 701st Brigade.

Sixty troops from the 60th Infantry Battalion were sent to Boston on Thursday following reports that regional communist and NPA leaders were holding a meeting nearby. Along the way, they encountered a 100-strong NPA force about five km from the main rebel camp, Berroya said.

Five soldiers died in the initial fire-fight on Thursday afternoon. The soldiers used radio equipment to call for reinforcements, but the gunships did not show up until past noon Friday. Further-more, the gunships were lost and did not immediately find the troops, Berroya explained.

Col. Antonio Bautista, commander of the Air Force Tactical Operations Group in southern Mindanao, confirmed that he had requested for six choppers from the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao and the 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City, as reinforcement for the beleaguered ground troopers.

The soldiers had encountered what is known as the NPA's Front 20, a dreaded leftist commando unit. It is one of three rebel bands involved in separate clashes that killed 18 Special Forces Philippine soldiers in the same area last November, said Berroya.

Front 20's head, Roberto Rosete, remained holed up in Boston. "He is the target of the next manhunt," said Berroya.

The Boston encounter was the third between government troops and the NPA since the latter stepped up offensives last month.

On Monday, a soldier was killed and four others, including a junior officer, wounded during an NPA ambush near Talaingod town in Davao del Norte.

It happened at a time when a platoon was checking reports that NPA rebels had been harassing employees of a detachment of Alsons Inc., a plywood manufacturing firm in Mindanao.

The attacking rebels were identified as belonging to the NPA's Front 35, another dreaded leftist commando. It is the same group believed to be responsible for the killing of former Talaingod mayor Jose Libayao late last year.

On March 31, the NPA killed policeman Ernesto Barrete in Maco, Compostela Valley.

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said in a statement signed by Armando Liwanag, his nom de guerre, that the NPA should brace for "U.S. military intervention".

In a statement to mark the NPA's 33rd anniversary on March 29, Sison said the NPA must step up attacks on military targets. He also called for intensification of protest rallies against the ongoing U.S.-Philippine troops in the southern and central Philippines.

After the wargames conclude its mission to target the hostage-taking Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, the next target will be the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front in central Mindanao, warned Sison.

The military estimated NPA's strength at nearly 12,000 in 2001, up from 11,255 the previous year; the MILF at about 12,500 men; the Abu Sayyaf, from 1,000 to 60.

President Gloria Arroyo revived the shelved peace talks between the government and the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) in 2001, but she ordered suspension of the talks after the NPA assassinated two former congressmen late last year.

Arroyo admitted that informal negotiations are underway. But she has not yet released some 200 political detainees, as demanded by the NDF earlier.