MANILA, June 8 (Reuters) Four Philippine commandos were killed and eight wounded in an assault on a communist rebel encampment on the southern island of Mindanao, an army general said today.
Brigadier-General Carlos Holganza said the troops attacked a communist New People's Army (NPA) hideout in a mining town late yesterday, but met heavy resistance that triggered an hour-long gun battle.
''We suffered heavy casualties because the rebels detonated landmines around their camp,'' Holganza told Reuters, adding the soldiers also ''got some of them''.
Holganza said reinforcements were rushed to the area while helicopters evacuated the dead and wounded soldiers.
The Philippine army says the Maoist-led guerrillas were active in the gold-rush areas in the Compostela Valley, earning a few million pesos from extortion activities and illegal mine operations.
Since 1969, the NPA rebels have waged a protracted rebellion that has killed more than 40,000 people and slowed growth in the rural areas of one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered an all-out war on the 7,000-member NPA, which operates in 69 of the nation's 81 provinces, mostly in the poor and typhoon-prone areas.
Peace talks, brokered by Norway, collapsed in August 2004 when the United States and some Western European states put the NPA and its leader, Jose Maria Sison, on terrorism blacklists.
REUTERS KK KN0949
Brigadier-General Carlos Holganza said the troops attacked a communist New People's Army (NPA) hideout in a mining town late yesterday, but met heavy resistance that triggered an hour-long gun battle.
''We suffered heavy casualties because the rebels detonated landmines around their camp,'' Holganza told Reuters, adding the soldiers also ''got some of them''.
Holganza said reinforcements were rushed to the area while helicopters evacuated the dead and wounded soldiers.
The Philippine army says the Maoist-led guerrillas were active in the gold-rush areas in the Compostela Valley, earning a few million pesos from extortion activities and illegal mine operations.
Since 1969, the NPA rebels have waged a protracted rebellion that has killed more than 40,000 people and slowed growth in the rural areas of one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered an all-out war on the 7,000-member NPA, which operates in 69 of the nation's 81 provinces, mostly in the poor and typhoon-prone areas.
Peace talks, brokered by Norway, collapsed in August 2004 when the United States and some Western European states put the NPA and its leader, Jose Maria Sison, on terrorism blacklists.
REUTERS KK KN0949
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