ZAMBOANGA CITY , 28 March 2004 — Five people were killed yesterday in the latest string of attacks by communist insurgents in the central Philippines, officials said.
Dozens of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels stormed a government detachment near Lake Danao in Ormoc City in Leyte province at around 4 a.m. and then attacked a police reinforcement two hours later, killing three and two civilians, said a military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.
Lucero said the rebels also seized four firearms from the policemen.
The motive of the attacks was still unclear, but the NPA earlier warned of fresh offensive.
In the southern Philippines, the military said about 45 NPA rebels surrendered yesterday to the army’s 29th Infantry Battalion after a series of negotiations. The rebels also surrendered 32 rifles in a ceremony held in the town of Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur province. Last week, troops killed 8 NPA rebels in fierce clashes in Surigao del Norte’s Gigaguit town.
President Gloria Arroyo resumed peace negotiations last month with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political arm the National Democratic Front. The talks were suspended in 2001 after NPA rebels assassinated two lawmakers despite a truce accord with the government.
Many security officials were opposed to the resumption of the peace talks, which coincided with Arroyo’s campaign for another six-year term in the May 10 presidential election. They claimed the NPA is only using the peace talks to recruit new members and consolidate its forces.
The rebels had already killed dozens of soldiers and policemen across the country since early this year despite the peace talks.
The United States and the European Union tagged the CPP-NDF and the its armed wing the NPA, as foreign terrorist organizations and froze its assets abroad on Manila’s recommendation.
