MANILA, Philippines – Two soldiers were killed and five others went missing in the latest clashes between Philippine troops and communist rebels, military officials said Sunday.
The country's Marxist insurgency, one of Asia's longest, has continued to rage despite a deadline by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to crush it by the end of her term on June 30.
A New People's Army rebel sniper fatally shot one of several army soldiers guarding a government road project on Saturday in a remote village in Presentacion township in Camarines Sur province, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of Manila, army Lt. Col. Ernesto Cruz said.
Twelve soldiers were deployed to pursue the attackers but were ambushed by the rebels late Saturday in another village in Presentacion. Seven soldiers, three of them wounded by grenades and rifle fire, managed to return to camp, but five went missing, regional army spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc said.
Villagers have reported seeing the bodies of four of the missing soldiers at the battle scene in a Presentacion hinterland, and troops aboard two Huey helicopters have been sent to look for the army personnel, Cabunoc said.
The fifth soldier has sent a mobile phone message to his army commander, saying he was hiding in a forest near the scene of the clash. Troops were also searching for him, Cabunoc said.
An army soldier was killed and seven others were wounded by a land-mine blast in a separate fight Saturday on the outskirts of southern Davao city, regional military spokesman Capt. Emmanuel Garcia said.
The communist guerrillas apparently planted mines to block the advance of government troops that they had fought twice earlier Saturday, Garcia said.
The military says the rebels' ranks have thinned to about 4,000 from more than 25,000 in the mid-1980s because of battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism.
Peace talks between the rebels and the government brokered by Norway collapsed in 2004 after the rebels accused Arroyo's administration of instigating their inclusion on U.S. and European terrorist blacklists.
