Self-exiled Philippine communist leader Sison dies at 83

FILE PHOTO: Jose Maria Sison, founder of Philippine Communist Party, reacts after he was released from Scheveningen prison in the Netherlands September 13, 2007. REUTERS/Ronald Fleurbaaij

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison died on Friday night at the age of 83 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands, his party said on Saturday.

Sison is the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing - the New People's Army (NPA) - has been waging an armed rebellion in one of the world's longest-running insurgencies. The conflict between the NPA and the Philippine government has killed more than 40,000 people.