Communist guerrillas attacked a central Philippine town hall yesterday, killing a pro-government militiaman and seizing several assault weapons in their latest defiance of a military-declared Christmas ceasefire, officials said.
About 50 New People's Army guerrillas bombed a steel door then barged into the Hinabangan town hall at dawn then took an M16 rifle and two grenades from a court room in the two-story building, regional police commander Chief Superintendent Abner Cabalquinto said.
They also took boxes of antibiotics and flu medicine in the mayor's office, he said.
A 70-year-old government militiaman was killed when he tried to fight the rebels from a nearby house, Cabalquinto said.
Another group of rebels simultaneously opened fire on a police station at the back of the town hall, sparking a one-hour firefight with five policemen armed only with pistols.
Four policemen were later overwhelmed and disarmed but left unharmed, he said.
A fifth policeman, initially reported by the army as missing, was found hiding in the ceiling of the station, Cabalquinto told the Associated Press by telephone.
The policemen could have had a better chance of repelling the guerrilla attack if they had assault rifles. Their M16 rifles were taken on orders of the provincial commander recently, ironically due to fears they could be seized in a rebel attack, he said.
"Our policemen made a stand only with their pistols, but it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed," Cabalquinto said.
Other guerrillas set up a road checkpoint and land mines to block the advance of reinforcement troops during the attack in Hinabangan in central Samar province, about 560km southeast of Manila. Army troops and police were pursuing the Maoist rebels, Cabalquinto said.
"This incident once again proved that the NPA terrorists do not want peace to reign in our country," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said.
"It is our solemn pledge to go after these bandits and put an end to their atrocious acts," Torres said, adding the rebel attack went against a unilateral 22-day Christmas truce declared by the 120,000-strong military.
Communist guerrillas have rejected the ceasefire, calling it a sham and vowing to intensify attacks against government forces. They said such ceasefires have been used by government troops in the past to intensify surveillance and counterinsurgency operations.
The rebels killed three marines in a road ambush in southwestern Palawan Province at the start of the Dec. 16 to Jan. 6 ceasefire, the military said.
The guerrillas, now about 6,000-strong, have been fighting for a Marxist-led state for 39 years. They withdrew from peace talks with the Philippine government in 2004.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS