7 soldiers, 8 others hurt in landmine blast - report

MANILA, Philippines - Seven soldiers were killed while eight others were wounded after the truck they used to pursue a group of suspected rebels hit a landmine in Davao del Sur, the military said on Monday.

Reports, quoting Capt. Ernest Carolina, spokesman of the Army's 10th Infantry Division, said that around 7 a.m., a group of gunmen, believed to be members of the New People's Army, fired on a military detachment in Brgy. Asbang, Matanao, Davao del Sur.

The attack on the detachment prompted  the 39th Infantry Battalion to deploy a platoon-sized troop to go after the gunmen, reports said.

However, the military vehicle the government troops hit a landmine, killing the platoon leader and seven others, the reports added.

Military officials believed that the attack on the detachment is connected to the earlier attack of some 100 communist rebels on a police station also in Matanao town,  where two cops were killed.