Philippine troops overran a major communist guerrilla base in the north after a week-long gun battle, an army general said on Wednesday, warning of reprisals ahead of a key rebel anniversary at the weekend. Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, army commander in the northern Philippines, said troops found several assault rifles, an undetermined amount of ammunition and two landmines at the hastily abandoned rebel camp in mountains in Abra province. Soldiers also found the body of one rebel in one of the bunkers and witnesses saw the guerrillas fleeing with some wounded comrades, the commander added. “We lost two men in the assault and six others were wounded,” Maclang told reporters in mobile phone text messages. “We hit the jackpot. We've found a major rebel base deep in the mountains straddling three northern provinces.” Maclang said troops stumbled upon the rebel base at the end of an eight-day gun battle with the communist New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas in Abra on Tuesday. “We're expecting the rebels to retaliate because we probably disrupted their plan to attack army detachments to celebrate the NPA's 39th founding anniversary on March 29,” he added. The army claims to have dismantled 13 rebel bases in 2007, reducing the number of communist guerrillas from 7,000 to a little over 5,700 fighters, the lowest-ever level in the nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed 40,000 people. __
