More rebel attacks seen ahead of CPP anniversary

DAVAO CITY—Communist guerrillas continued to attack military targets in Mindanao amid uncertainty over the fate of peace talks aimed at ending the 43-year-old Maoist insurgency.

The latest of at least a dozen New People’s Army (NPA) attacks in Mindanao was Tuesday’s land mine attack in Paquibato district here, where three soldiers died.

Maj. Jacob Obligado, civil-military operations chief of the 10th Infantry Division, said the soldiers had just left their patrol base past 8 a.m. for a community outreach program when the rebels set off the explosive.

The soldiers were killed just 300-400 meters from their base, Obligado said. The identities of the slain soldiers were withheld pending notification of their relatives.

A day earlier, NPA rebels ambushed a group of militiamen in Trento, Agusan del Sur.

In Davao Oriental, a rebel was killed after a clash with soldiers in Barangay Caningag in Caraga town, also on Monday.

In Lucena City, the military said it expects the NPA to heighten “revolutionary tax” collection in time for its founding anniversary next month. Dennis Jay Santos, Karlos Manlupig, Frinston Lim and Orlando Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao and Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon