Asia-Pacific

Govt troops overrun rebel camp in S Philippines

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-28 10:37

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Philippine government troops overran a camp of leftist rebels and in a separate mission captured a rebel in the southern Philippines on Sunday, police said Monday.

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Soldiers were hunting down New People's Army (NPA) rebels involved in several attacks in the region when they discovered a camp in the township of Prosperidad in Agusan del Sur province on Sunday afternoon, said regional police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal.

"They abandoned their camp before our forces arrive. They even left some of their belongings," said Rafal.

In a separate mission, government soldiers captured an NPA guerilla fighter named Louie Tejero in the township of Barobo in Surigao del Sur province.

The NPA has been waging a guerrilla campaign in the countryside for more than four decades. The Philippine military estimates that there are some 4,700 NPA guerrilla fighters scattered in more than 60 provinces throughout the Southeast Asian country.

Last month, the Philippine government and the leftist rebels resumed formal peace talks, which have been suspended for six years, in Oslo, Norway, in a bid to bring an end to the protracted insurgency.