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LANUZA, Philippines: Twenty-three people died in the southern Philippines as communist guerrillas and security forces engaged in one of their most deadly battles in years, officials said on Friday.
New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas killed 12 people, including eight soldiers and a policeman, when they attacked a logging site on Wednesday in a remote forest on the volatile island of Mindanao, the police and military said.
Eleven rebels were killed in a counter-attack, according to the military, which said the fighting raged over seven hours and left the surviving security forces nearly out of bullets.
The clashes near the town of Lanuza were the heaviest engagement of the security forces against the Maoist guerrilla force for at least two years in terms of casualties, based on publicly available records.
Only one other reported firefight since the end of 2007 between the 5,000-member NPA and the security forces led to more than nine deaths.
In Manila, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner told AFP it was the deadliest clash since at least last year, although he could not immediately give details as to the last time so many people died.
About 100 NPA troops initially overwhelmed the logging company's private security force, then set fire to equipment, according to regional deputy police chief Nestor Fajura.
A combined army and police force, guided by company security guards, mounted a counter-attack but the rebels set off a series of roadside bombs that hit the convoy, said Fajura and local military spokesman Major Michele Anayron.
Two military vehicles were hit by improvised explosive devices, according to Anayron, spokesman for the Philippine Army's 4th Infantry Division, whose forces were targeted in the ambush.
Anayron said only one body of the 11 communist rebels killed was recovered and the surviving guerrillas were believed to have carried away their dead comrades.
The Philippine Army said in a separate statement that a military-led convoy sent to protect the logging firm was struck with remotely detonated roadside bombs, immediately killing two soldiers and pinning down the rest of the unit.
A seven-hour firefight ensued, killing six other soldiers, a policeman and three logging firm guards, it added.
Another 10 soldiers, a police officer and the logging company's security chief were wounded in the clashes, according to Fajura and Anayron.
The NPA released a statement about its attack on the logging company, but did not mention the firefight.
"The Red Diwata Command of Front 30 launched a tactical offensive," said the statement posted on a rebel-linked website.
It said the guerrillas stole 11 firearms from the logging firm guards and set fire to 12 pieces of logging equipment.
The NPA has been waging an insurgency across the Philippines for the past 40 years. It is believed to have about 5,000 militants, and is well known to raise money through extortion.
The military said in September that the communist insurgency had claimed more than 3,000 lives over the past eight years.
No reason was given for Wednesday's attack on the logging company but the communists often attack such sites as punishment for companies not giving in to extortion demands, and to gain weapons from the targets' security details.
President Gloria Arroyo shelved peace talks with the rebels in 2004.
A fresh effort to restart negotiations aimed at bringing a political settlement broke down in early September over the communists' demand that the government release several jailed communist guerrilla leaders. - AFP/de
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