REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MANILA -- Three Philippine soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a midnight ambush by Maoist guerillas in the northern highlands, the army said Tuesday.

The rebels detonated a roadside bomb and then opened fire on three military trucks driving on a dirt road in the mountain town of Pinukpuk on Monday night, local military commander Brigadier-General Paul Atal said.

"It was a treacherous attack. They really wanted to inflict casualties that's why they used landmines," he said.

The 30-man unit was returning to base after security patrols when it was attacked, he added.

In a separate incident on Sunday, rebel forces attacked a security outpost in the southern province of Compostela Valley, where they burned an excavator and seized two security guards, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Gubat.

The 4,000-strong NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has waged a guerilla campaign for 46 years, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, largely in rural areas mired in poverty.

Peace negotiations have stalled under President Benigno Aquino as the government has refused to grant the rebels' demand to free some of its captured leaders who are facing criminal charges.

Last month, the government detained a senior leader of the communist party and killed one of its most prominent guerrilla fighters in separate operations.

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