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Manila: Some 15 suspected communist rebels were killed while 12 others were captured in a clash with government soldiers that began over the weekend in the southern Philippines, an Army spokesman said on Monday.
A joint pursuit operation of the Army's 30th Infantry Battalion, the 42nd Military Intelligence Company and the Philippine National Police resulted in the killing and arresting of suspected members of the communist New People's Army (NPA) in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, said Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner.
The pursuit military and the police ran after 50 NPA members after the latter attacked a police station in Dapa town and burned a cellular phone transmission in nearby General Luna town late Saturday.
Stolen arms
The NPA carted away a number of assault rifles and pistols from the police station. The NPA attackers split into two when government officials blocked the exit points in the area.
Earlier, Armand Rico, spokesman of eastern Mindanao's military command said that two policemen were killed and four others were wounded in the week-end encounter.
One of the two groups fled by boat to Lapinigan Island, a forested area where they remained trapped until Sunday, Brawner said.
Surigao del Norte is 430 miles southeast of Manila.
The NPA, the armed wing of the 39 year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), remain a primary threat to government security, said Chief of Staff Alexander Yano. It is now 30 per cent of its former 5,000 strength, he said.
President Gloria Arroyo set 2010 as a deadline for defeating the CPP-NPA.
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