Mindano: Twenty-three people were killed in the southern Philippines during clashes between communist guerrillas and the military, officials said on Friday.
New People's Army guerrillas triggered a land mine under a military and police convoy that rushed to the Surigao Development Corp. in Surigao del Sur province on Wednesday, killing eight soldiers, three security guards and a police officer, said Maj. Michele Anayron, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.
At least one rebel was killed in an ensuing gunbattle. The security forces battled about 80 guerrillas for about seven hours, Anayron said.
Ten soldiers, a police officer and a security guard were wounded.
The rebels torched a logging company's chain saws and heavy equipment, including four bulldozers, a police report said.
There was no available independent confirmation of the 10 other reported rebel fatalities, and the communists had yet to make a statement on the incident.
