Five communist insurgents killed in separate encounters

LEGASPI (AFP) - Five communist guerrillas were killed in separate clashes with government forces in the Philippines, police and army reports said Thursday.

Three New People's Army (NPA) rebels were killed Wednesday in a fight with a police patrol in the eastern island of Catanduanes, a police report said.

A policeman was also wounded.

Also on Wednesday, the security guards of a mayor fought off an NPA ambush in the town of Pio Duran, southeast of Manila, killing one of the attackers.

Police said Mayor Dante Arandia stayed behind after being tipped off that the NPA planned to ambush him that day.

Meanwhile, a military patrol shot and killed an NPA guerrilla near the town of Silvino Lobos on Samar island on Tuesday, an army statement said.

The NPA is the 6,000-member armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 in one of Asia's longest-running communist insurgencies.