Communist rebel leader killed in army strike

GOVERNMENT forces have killed a key communist rebel commander in one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies, in what the military described as a daring raid in the country’s remote southern region, but what guerilla leaders said was an ambush.

Jorge Madlos, who used the nom de guerre Ka Oris, was for many decades a leading figure and spokesman for the communist fighters in the southern Philippines’ mountainous hinterlands.

Defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday said government forces killed Madlos in Bukidnon province on Saturday.

He described the rebel’s death as a major blow to the already-battered New People’s Army guerrilla group.Regional military commander Maj Gen Romeo Brawner said villagers tipped off the military about the presence of about 30 rebels, who were holding discussions with residents in a remote village near Impasug-ong town.

Fighter planes were deployed to fire rockets at the rebel position, which the military said was protected by land mines, before a ground assault was ordered.

After a gunbattle that lasted less than an hour, troops found the bodies of Madlos, 72, and his medical aide, their assault rifles and ammunition, Brawner said. — AP