Ten Communist rebels killed by own landmine blast in the south

Ten Communist rebels were recently killed and six were wounded when a landmine they were planting exploded, a military spokesman said.

According to military reports, the sixteen guerrillas of the Communist New People's Army (NPA) were planting the landmines along a highway in Esperanza town, Zamboanga, southern Philippines when one of their homemade devices went off.

Lieutenant Colonel Renoir Pascua said the military learned of the incident days later. The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has been waging a campaign to seize power for 35 years to set up a Maoist state in the country.

It has stepped up its activities in recent months to project a strong presence in the rural areas and extorting money through charging permit to campaign fees from candidates running in the May 10 elections.

Belated reports reaching Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon City recently identified one of the rebels killed in blast as Alfredo Mapano, a member of the executive committee of the New People's Army (NPA) operating in the Caraga region, southern Philippines.

The AFP did not receive immediate reports on the identities of the other rebel fatalities.

According to reports reaching the information office of the AFP, Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said the rebels were conducting a training exercise on the use of landmines when one of the explosives prematurely exploded during the training along the road leading to Kinamaybay village in Esperanza town on April 25.

Despite the worldwide ban on the use of landmines, the NPA has extensively used the explosive devices to attack military convoys and other targets.

Landmines have been a very effective weapon used by the rebels against the military and police. often, civilians end up being getting maimed of killed.