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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Suspected communist guerrillas killed six policemen and wounded eight others in an ambush in the northern Philippines on Tuesday in the latest flare-up of the decades-old Marxist insurgency, the military said.
Army Maj. Gen. Lysander Suerte said about 40 New People's Army rebels detonated a bomb then opened fire on a truckload of policemen in the coastal town of Baggao in Cagayan province Tuesday, sparking an hourlong gunbattle.
Two assault helicopters were deployed and soldiers and policemen were pursuing the attackers, who burned construction equipment in a nearby farm irrigation project late Monday, Suerte said.
The Marxist insurgency has flared on and off for more than four decades and is one of the longest-running rebellions in Asia. The military says the insurgency has been considerably weakened in many regions.
Peace negotiations brokered by Norway between the rebels and the government have stalled under President Benigno Aquino III, whose six-year term ends in June.
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