Communist rebels raid Surigao police station, wound 2 officers

MANILA (AP) - Communist rebels disguised as soldiers attacked a southern Philippine police station, wounding two officers, looting weapons from the post and prompting officials to suspend the remaining force for negligence, police said Monday.

The Sunday raid led police to declare an alert in the remote Caraga region in Surigao del Sur province, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Manila, said regional police chief Jaime Milla.

He ordered the local police chief and his 24 men from the Cantila Municipal Police Station to be relieved, retrained and investigated "for possible negligence that gave the rebels the opportunity to attack."

Milla said two police were wounded when they tried to fend off an attack by the New People's Army rebels, who arrived in three trucks, a van and a pickup dressed as soldiers.

He said the rebels took away 14 firearms and radio equipment. Milla said it was not clear why the other policemen had left their weapons at the station instead of taking them home at the end of their shift, as is standard policy in remote areas.

The 7,000-strong rebels, who have been fighting for a Maoist state for 39 years, have recently stepped up raids on police and military outposts as well as commercial establishments that refuse to pay them so-called "revolutionary taxes."

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier this month urged the rebels to accept the government's new amnesty program or face military defeat, calling their protracted struggle "ideological nonsense."