RP denounces communist attacks

RP denounces communist attacks

PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Arroyo denounced on Tuesday a wave of communist guerrilla attacks in the Philippines over the past week, but said negotiations to settle the 35-year insurgency remained on track.

"We will hunt down these isolated NPA (New People's Army) formations and neutralize their capability to terrorize our communities," Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

But he said any military offensive would "not discourage the government from seeking a long-term solution to end the more than 30 years of insurgency".

In the latest attack, the NPA ambushed a police convoy on the central island of Masbate on Monday, killing eight police officers. Two NPA rebels were slain in a separate clash with the army on the central island of Negros on Sunday.

The fighting occurred after the government concluded a first round of formal talks with exiled rebel leaders in Norway on Saturday, although the two sides did not discuss a cease-fire.

Bunye said: "Peace talks are gaining ground so we will sustain that momentum until a lasting peace agreement is forged between the two parties."

The NPA and its mother organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines, have been waging a 35-year Maoist guerrilla campaign. --AFP