THE PHILIPPINE ARMY SAID ON FRIDAY IT HAD KILLED ABOUT 10 REBELS FROM THE COMMUNIST NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY (NPA) AFTER TROOPS OVERRAN A LARGE GUERRILLA BASE ON THE SOUTHERN ISLAND OF MINDANAO, REUTERS REPORTED. COLONEL FRANCISCO SIMBAJON, AN ARMY SPOKESMAN IN THE SOUTH, SAID THE FIGHTING ON THURSDAY WAS TRIGGERED BY A MILITARY RAID ON A REBEL ENCAMPMENT ON THE SLOPES OF MOUNT BAWAYA. SIMBAJON SAID TWO SOLDIERS WERE KILLED DURING THE ASSAULT AND TWO WERE WOUNDED AS ARMY COMMANDOS BATTLED ABOUT 50 MAOIST-LED REBELS FOR AN HOUR. 'WE WERE TOLD BY SOME VILLAGERS THAT THEY SAW THE FLEEING REBELS DRAGGING 10 BODIES,' HE TOLD REPORTERS, ADDING TROOPS HAD FOUND SEVERAL BUNKERS THAT COULD ACCOMMODATE MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE IN THE REBEL CAMP. THE INSURGENCY BY THE NPA, THE ARMED WING OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMUNIST PARTY, HAS KILLED MORE THAN 40,000 PEOPLE SINCE THE LATE 1960S. IT HAS BEEN LABELLED A TERRORIST GROUP BY THE UNITED STATES AND SOME EUROPEAN STATES. PEACE TALKS BETWEEN THE COMMUNISTS AND THE GOVERNMENT, BROKERED BY NORWAY, COLLAPSED IN AUGUST 2004 WHEN MANILA DECLINED A REQUEST BY THE REBELS TO PERSUADE WASHINGTON AND OTHERS TO REMOVE THEM FROM TERROR BLACKLISTS.
