Philippines Base Station Attacked by Communist Terrorists
A mobile phone tower belonging to The Philippines operator, Globe Telecom was attacked at the weekend by suspected New People’s Army terrorists. The company has been subject to repeated attacks on its base stations after it refused to pay "revolutionary taxes" to the communist insurgency.
Local media reported that eyewitnesses saw three armed men break into a base station office in Southern Tagalog and plant explosives within the building. When confronted, the armed men threatened the local residents. As the explosives detonated - the three men are reported to have cried "Long live the NPA" before fleeting.
Local residents were able to bring the fire under control quite quickly.
This is the second base station to have been attacked by the NPA in the past few weeks.
The New People's Army (NPA) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. A partial pardon for their insurgency activities has been proposed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but it has not been agreed to by the Congress.
Two sub-contractors working for Globe Telecom were abducted last month after repair work to another base station - although it was thought to be an unrelated group who took them.
Posted to the site on 12th August 2008
