Maoists attack Philippine soldiers sending aid
MANILA: Maoist rebels attacked soldiers delivering relief aid to parts of the central Philippines where a typhoon killed at least 31 people, army and disaster officials said yesterday.
Tropical Storm Kai-Tak, which triggered landslides and floods in the deadliest storm to hit the country this year, also left more than 40 people missing.
Military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said two soldiers were wounded when about 50 rebels of the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of a communist movement, fired on a convoy of troops carrying relief aid on Samar island on Saturday.
The NPA had yet to comment on the accusation, and it was not possible to contact the group due to power outages and disrupted communications.
The Philippines has not declared a Christmas truce with the rebels for the first time in three decades after President Rodrigo Duterte halted peace talks and this month designated the NPA a terrorist organisation.
“(The attacks) validated the aptness of the government’s decision to terminate peace negotiations and discontinue the Christmas truce,” Arevalo said.
The 3,000-member Maoist rebel forces have been waging a protracted guerrilla warfare for nearly 50 years in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.
Mina Marasigan, a spokesman for the national disaster risk reduction and management council, urged NPA to halt the violence.
“This is not an armed conflict,” she said, adding that the rebels should let “relief work to go unhampered”.
She said emergency workers were working around the clock to restore power, clear debris and make roads and bridges passable to allow humanitarian assistance to reach about 220,000 people affected by the storm. Reuters