Philippine army in major sweep against leftist rebels

MANILA,Wednesday (AFP) Hundreds of Philippine soldiers searched rice paddies and chicken farms in an area north of Manila Wednesday in a wide sweep against communist guerillas, a day after a major clash left 18 rebels dead.

Poultry farm manager Fernando Daquio, his septuagenarian parents, his children aged 9-15 and eight other farmhands cowered inside a feed silo as the 37 year-old Maoist insurgency arrived in the village of David near the town of San Jose.

Two armored troop transports entered the farm by crushing the perimeter fence during the morning. Tense and sleepless soldiers inspected the barns full of 8,000 cackling broiler hens, in search of New People's Army (NPA) guerrilla stragglers.

One infantry battalion and three army reconnaissance companies a force of nearly 1,000 soldiers backed by armored vehicles and air force helicopters were involved in the manhunt, their commander said.

The troops are on the trail of two guerrilla platoons of up to 40 gunmen, said 702nd Brigade commander Colonel Ricardo Garcia.

A day earlier, the military said it wiped out an entire NPA platoon in a raid on the hamlet of Santa Ines, on the outskirts of the town of Santa Ignacia. The rebel base was located behind a hill near David, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Manila.

Garcia told AFP that at least 18 rebels and possibly more were killed when troops attacked the NPA's "Oscar Estrada Command" base.

Soldiers had so far recovered the bodies of 10 NPA gunmen including a woman in Santa Ines and they were taken to the Santa Ignacia mortuary, said an AFP photographer with the unit.

Three soldiers including a junior officer sustained minor shrapnel injuries, Garcia said. Garcia said the NPA "definitely has sympathizers and supporters" in the villages around Santa Ignacia and San Jose, but said other residents had tipped off the military after they complained of rebel extortion.

He said the NPA had collected "revolutionary taxes" from owners of poultry farms and grain from rice farmers.

"They accused us of giving chickens and other food to the rebels," said Daquio, 37. "But if indeed the farm gives 'revolutionary taxes' to the NPA, then you should ask the farm owner, not us."