ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines: Twenty-three people died in the southern Philippines as communist rebels and security forces engaged in one of their most deadly battles in years, officials said Friday.
New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas killed 12 people, including eight soldiers and a policeman, when they attacked a logging site on Wednesday in Surigao del Sur province in Mindanao, officials said on Friday.
Eleven rebels were killed in a counter-attack, according to the military, which said the fighting raged over seven hours and left the surviving security forces nearly out of bullets.
The clashes near the town of Lanuza were the heaviest engagement of the security forces against the Maoist guerrilla force for at least two years in terms of casualties, based on publicly available records. Only one other reported fire fight since the end of 2007 between the 5,000-member NPA and the security forces led to more than nine deaths.
In Manila, military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said that it was the deadliest clash since at least last year, although he could not immediately give details as to the last time so many people died.
About 100 NPA troops initially overwhelmed the logging company’s private security force, then set fire to equipment, according to regional deputy police chief Nestor Fajura.
A combined army and police force, guided by company security guards, mounted a counter-attack but the rebels set off a series of roadside bombs that hit the convoy, said Fajura and local military spokesman Major Michelle Anayron.
— With input from agencies
