Reds ransack police station

BACOLOD CITY — New People’s Army (NPA) rebels seized nine firearms in a raid on a small remote police outpost in Escalante City in Negros Occidental yesterday, police said. No one was hurt in the attack.

The guerrillas — who included a woman and were armed with M-16 rifles — burst into the outpost in Escalante City where two policemen and eight civilian helpers were having breakfast, said Antonio Bravo, one of the two officers in the outpost.

The guerrillas seized five assault rifles, a machine gun and a pistol, then left without firing a shot, Bravo said.

The New People’s Army and a rebel faction called the Revolutionary Proletarian Army are active on Negros Island.

It was the latest in a wave of rebel attacks apparently aimed at arming new recruits.

In a separate attack Friday, a group of guerrillas disguised as National Bureau of Investigation personnel raided a police station in Botolan, Zambales and seized five high-powered weapons after handcuffing four officers on duty, police said. — AP