Four Philippine soldiers injured in clash with rebels

MANILA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Four soldiers were injured in a clash on Friday with leftist rebels in Quezon province south of Manila, the military said on Friday.

The spokesman of the Philippine Army's 2nd Infantry Division Patrick Retumban, said heavy fighting erupted around 8 a.m. on Friday morning, while combined military and police forces caught up with an undetermined number of New People's Army (NPA) insurgents in a village near the town of Infanta, Quezon province of the Northern Philippines.

The NPA rebels that clashed with troops in Infanta were reportedly massing up in the area to burn the equipment of a construction firm, which is building a dam in the area to beef up the supply of water in Metro Manila and neighboring areas.

Army Colonel Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, the commander of the Philippine Army 202nd Brigade, said the encounter site is about three kilometers from the construction site.

On Feb. 7, he said the rebels also torched several pieces of equipment of the firm after the company refused to pay extortion money.

The NPA, one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies, concentrates its attacks in rural areas of the Philippines and skirmishes with the government military.