(UPDATE) Police kill 3 rebels, foil Cotabato attack

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels stormed a police station in North Cotabato today, sparking a fierce firefight that left three of the attackers dead, the military said.

The assault by dozens of New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas in President Roxas town, in Mindanao's North Cotabato province at 3: 30 a.m., also wounded a policeman, according to Captain Albert Caber, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command.

"Rebels onboard a truck and a mini-jeep attempted to overrun the police station but were repulsed by policemen manning it," Caber told Xinhua in a text message.

Caber said the gun battle lasted for 30 minutes after which the rebels withdrew to unknown direction, leaving behind their dead comrades, several assault rifles, two handheld radios and the vehicles used in the raid.

The regional military commander Ricardo Rainer Cruz III, has ordered pursuit operation against the attackers and support local police in their "law enforcement operations" against insurgents.

Early in the year, at least 12 people were killed after leftist rebels attacked a police station in nearby Davao del Sur province.