Philippine troops killed seven communist guerrillas in an offensive Sunday in a central province and were pursuing several others in the latest flare-up of the decades-long insurgency that the military says is on the brink of collapse.
Army forces killed two New People’s Army guerrillas in a clash last week in Masbate province and then caught up with the fleeing insurgents early Sunday in the hinterlands of Uson town, where they killed seven of them in a 30-minute gunbattle, Maj. Frank Roldan of the army’s 9th Infantry Division said. Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said last week that less than 900 rebels remain, mostly in eastern rural regions, from the estimated 25,000 insurgent force at the peak of the 56-year insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running rebellions.
Saddled by battle defeats, surrenders and factionalism, the guerrilla forces “are on the brink of collapse,” said Brig. Gen. Medel Aguilar, deputy commander of the military’s Civil Relations Service. Peace talks brokered by Norway collapsed under previous President Rodrigo Duterte after both sides accused the other of continuing deadly attacks despite the negotiations.
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