Rebels attack 2 phone towers

Suspected communist guerrillas attacked two cellphone transmission towers in Sorsogon, police said yesterday.

In the first attack before dawn Thursday, guerrillas shot at the microwave antenna atop a tower operated by Globe Telecom in Bulan town, paralyzing its mobile phone operations, Chief Superintendent Victor Boco Jr., Bicol police director, said in a report to national police headquarters.

Two hours later, suspected rebels fired at another Globe cellular site in Pilar town, causing slight damage, Boco said.

He said police were pursuing the attackers.

Communist Party leaders earlier warned that their military arm, the New People’s Army, would step up offensives in rural areas to help oust President Arroyo.

Communist leaders living in exile in the Netherlands also said they won’t resume peace talks aimed at ending a 35-year-old Marxist insurgency until Mrs. Arroyo is gone.

The peace process broke down last August over the rebels’ demands to be removed from the lists of terrorist organizations in the United States and European Union. — AP, Celso Amo