MANILA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Three leftist rebels have been killed in a clash with the government troops in the Philippines, the military said on Thursday.
Patrick Jay Retumban, the spokesman of the Philippine Army's 2nd Infantry Division, said fighting broke out at around 9:41 a.m. on Wednesday between government security forces and some 20 New People's Army (NPA) rebels in a village in Occidental Mindoro province, killing at least three guerrillas.
Government troops also recovered five improvised explosive devices and other weapons from the NPA soldiers, he added.
The NPA rebels, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, have been trying to overthrow the government for 50 years. The military said the group has an estimated 3,500 cadres.
Several attempts were made since the 1980s to forge a peace pact between the government and the NPA rebels but failed.
The current administration leading by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also made an attempt but also failed. Fresh peace talks between the Duterte government and the NPA were suspended again in 2017.
The Philippine president said in March that he had no more plan to reopen the talks during his term which ends in 2022.
