Philippines: Police Officer Dies, 9 Injured in NPA Rebel Attack

A policeman was killed and nine other officers were wounded in a clash with communist rebels in the northern Philippines on Tuesday, officials said.

Members of the police Regional Mobile Force Battalion 15 were on foot patrol in Sagada, a remote town in the Mountain province, when they were ambushed by members of the New People’s Army (NPA), triggering a gun battle that led to the casualties, according to officials.

The police were on a routine peacekeeping operation in an area that the government and communist rebels had earlier agreed as a “peace zone.”

“The combined team of security forces were conducting operations to prevent the reported extortion and other criminal activities by members of the armed group when the incident happened,” regional police commander Rolando Zambale Nana said, adding that an officer with an equivalent rank of colonel in the military was among those wounded.

“Such action is considered as an act of cowardice, and a desperate move to pursue their selfish motives and prevent the police force who have been aggressive in peacekeeping efforts to secure the civilian populace especially in the remote areas,” he said.

He said all units were ordered to check with government hospitals and private clinics to determine if any patients were being treated for gunshot wounds and to block exits in towns across the region.

Meanwhile, the NPA said they had ambushed government forces Tuesday near Lopez, a Quezon province town southeast of Manila. They claimed to have killed four soldiers, but the military has not confirmed the report.

“Two incidents of fighting occurred, first when the NPA ambushed a truck with 10 soldiers and second, when the fighters also ambushed government reinforcements,” Cleo del Mundo, a spokeswoman for the NPA in the region, said in a statement.

Del Mundo said the tactical offensive was carried out by the rebels in response to a government offensive meant to flush them out of the region.

“Although the government has opened the possibility of opening up a new window for peace talks, they have not stopped attacks against communities, forcing the NPA to launch offensives,” del Mundo said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The 5,000-member guerrilla force has been waging a rebellion in the countryside since 1969, making the insurgency one of the world’s longest and deadliest.

President Rodrigo Duterte, a self-described leftist and a one-time university student of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, opened peace negotiations with the communists shortly after he took office in 2016.

One of his first official acts as president was to free jailed top CPP officials to join talks held in Europe. But he scrapped talks last year after accusing the NPA of staging attacks in violation of a ceasefire.

Duterte has said that no peace negotiations would occur during his term. But in a change of heart over the past two months, he invited Sison to return to the country and explore the possibility of resuming talks.