Gunmen kill 9 police, villagers in Philippines

MANILA (AP) - Philippine officials say gunmen have ambushed a truck carrying policemen and village guards, killing nine in a mountainous central province. Police officer Gary Genelaso says a policeman and eight others, mostly village guards, were killed by the unidentified men, who raked the victims' truck with rifle fire before dawn Sunday in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental province. Two other policemen were wounded. Genelaso says the policemen and villagers were returning to a police station after helping secure a village festival when they came under attack in the foothills of Mount Kanlaon. Army and police officials suspect the attackers are either communist New People's Army guerrillas or members of an illegal logging syndicate. TO READ