Philippine communist rebels burn another bus

Communist guerrillas burned a bus after forcing its passengers out at gunpoint in a southern Philippine province, in the second such attack in two weeks against a bus company which refused an extortion demand, an army spokesman said Thursday.

Photo: Philippine communist rebels burn another bus

New People's Army guerrillas blocked the bus at dawn Wednesday on an isolated road in Salay town in Misamis Oriental province, ordered its driver and passengers out, and then set it on fire, said Lt. Col. Francisco Simbajon, spokesman of the army's 4th Infantry Division.

Nobody was hurt in the attack, he said.

The rebels attacked the bus after its owners apparently refused to pay "revolutionary taxes" to the guerrillas. They burned another bus belonging to the same company in Misamis Oriental two weeks ago, Simbajon said.

Authorities have bolstered road security to deter similar attacks in the province, about 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of Manila.

The guerrillas, who are on U.S. and European Union terrorist blacklists, have been waging a rural-based Marxist rebellion for 37 years. The government has long accused the rebels of extortion and economic sabotage, reports the AP.

I.L.