COTABATO CITY, Philippines—At least seven communist rebels—two of them ranking cadres—were killed in two days of intense military operations along the borders of North Cotabato and Davao del Sur, a ranking military commander said on Saturday.

Col. Milfredo Meligrito, commander of the 57th Infantry Battalion, said six of the seven New People’s Army (NPA) casualties were killed in Friday’s air and ground assault in at least four villages of Tulunan, North Cotabato and Magsaysay in Davao del Sur.

He identified two of the slain rebels as Jek-Jek Cabelo and Tawad Lama, both commanders of the NPA’s Far South Command.

Melgrito said the bodies of the slain rebels had been recovered with their weapons.

Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, said the body of one of the slain commanders had already been turned over to village officials of Tulunan.

Meligrito said the NPA unit, which was responsible for last week’s ambush in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, where three police officers were killed, and Wednesday’s ambush in Barangay Bacung, Tulunan against soldiers, could have also suffered additional casualties due to the relentless ground assault and the air strikes.

He also reported that the two-day offensive resulted in the seizure of an NPA training camp, which has bunkers and running trenches, in Bacung.

He said clashes continued.

Jennalyn Delasan, Tulunan social worker officer, said in a radio interview that aid agencies could not penetrate Barangay Bacung and other villages because of the fighting.

She said there are at least 300 families from the Manobo communities, who were caught in the crossfire.

In Davao del Sur, provincial police commander Senior Supt. Ceasario Darantinao said additional police contingents had been deployed to the hinterlands of Magsaysay to help in the anti-NPA operation.

Darantinao said reports reaching him yesterday also indicated that a communist rebel was captured in the borders of Davao del Sur and North Cotabato.

He said in the wake of military reports that a number of NPA rebels might have suffered injuries in the operation, the provincial police office has posted agents in hospitals in the province.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It has been waging a guerrilla campaign to establish a Maoist government in Asia’s oldest democracy for the past 39 years already.

The 7,400-strong rebel group halted peace talks with the government in 2003 due to its failure to convince the government to have it delisted from Washington and the European Union’s list of international terrorist organizations. Edwin Fernandez, Orlando Dinoy and Jeoffrey Maitem Inquirer Mindanao