Over 3,000 killed in NPA insurgency since 2001

Violence spawned by the communist insurgent movement in the Philippines has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the last eight years, figures released by the military on Sunday showed.

The figures revealed that 1,072 soldiers and police, 1,476 rebels and 559 civilians had died in communist insurgent-related violence since 2001.

The death toll included civilians killed in crossfire during battles, the Philippine Army said.

In the latest outbreak of violence, New People’s Army (NPA) fighters ambushed a logging company truck in the southern part of the country also on Friday, killing three people including a security guard and an 8-year-old girl, the Army added.

Eight other logging company employees were wounded in the attack, the military said, adding that the communist guerrillas from the NPA then robbed the employees and set fire to the truck.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the NPA, have waged a Maoist campaign to seize power for 40 years.

The conflict peaked in the 1980s, when rebel ranks reached 26,000.

But the military’s spokesman, Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, said that the number of NPA fighters has fallen to just above 3,000.

Last week, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Avelino Razon Jr., said that the government would find it hard to end the communist insurgency in 2010, the deadline set by President Gloria Arroyo.

Meanwhile, proposed resumption of peace talks between the insurgents and the government recently hit a snag after both sides failed to resolve the issue on the status of “consultants” to rebel negotiators.

Earlier, hopes were high that the negotiations would take place in Norway this month. — AFP