Awwal 24, 1432, Feb 27, 2011, SPA -- Rebels killed three soldiers and wounded four others in an ambush in the mountainous northern Philippines, officials said Sunday, despite the recent resumption of peace talks. About 30 soldiers were carrying hammers, saws and others tools on their way to repair houses damaged by a typhoon when New People's Army rebels assaulted them with heavy gunfire for five minutes at the foothills of a mountain near Asipulo township in Ifugao province on Saturday, the army was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Reinforcement troops brought by a helicopter later, clashed with and wounded an unspecified number of fleeing rebels. The battle scene was inaccessible by vehicles, Ifugao police chief Laurence Mombael said. «They were on a humanitarian mission,» said army Col. Miguel Puyao. «The rebels didn't consider that.» Government and rebel negotiators last week resumed talks in Norway after more than six years and agreed to negotiate a settlement of the 42-year conflict, one of Asia's longest, possibly by June 2012.
