ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) — Three people were killed and 12 wounded on Thursday when communist insurgents threw a grenade into a bakery in the southern Philippines, the military said.
The incident happened just before dawn in Nabunturan town on restive Mindanao island, said local army official Lieutenant Richard Villaflor.
The bakery was targeted after its owners refused to pay demands from the communist New People's Army (NPA) for extortion money, known here as "revolutionary taxes," the official said.
No other details were given about the attack or those killed.
In a separate incident Thursday NPA rebels shot and wounded two policemen and stole nine guns during an attack on a police station in Banaybanay, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Nabunturan, local police said.
No other details were released.
Meanwhile, the military discovered late Tuesday the shallow grave of Josefino Estaniel, a pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who was kidnapped by the NPA in May, a regional military spokesman said.
Estaniel was "tortured before he was executed and buried," said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Decapia.
The military was led to the grave on the outskirts of Davao City by civilian informants. The pastor was apparently killed because of NPA suspicions he was helping the military with its anti-insurgency operations, Decapia said.
The NPA, the 5,000-member armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging a 39-year armed campaign across the country. It raises funds largely by extorting money from rural businesses.
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