By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY

Eight Philippine police officers and a civilian were wounded Sunday in two separate attacks by communist guerrillas in the country’s south.

Supt. Antonio Rivera, Southern Mindanao police spokesperson, said six officers were injured after New People’s Army (NPA) gunmen set fire to seven government vehicles and ambushed responding forces with a landmine in Quezon town, Bukidnon province.

The group had attacked an army detachment in Palakapao village earlier in the morning, ABS-CBN TV reported.

In an attack in x, gunmen opened fire on police assisting in a traffic accident along the Davao-Bukidnon highway at around 1.25 p.m. (0525GMT), leaving two officers and a civilian injured, according to Rivera.

The incidents come two days after suspected NPA rebels shot dead two unarmed soldiers in Agusan del Sur province.

The military has condemned Friday’s attack, accusing the insurgents of engaging in “banditry” to allegedly take around 25,000 Philippine pesos (more than $550) in cash and other valuables from the slain soldiers.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging an insurgency since 1969 that has left tens of thousands of people dead.

It reportedly has around 4,000 members in 69 of the country’s 81 provinces.

Philippine authorities have tagged the rebels as notorious extortionists and blamed them for harassing banana, pineapple and rubber plantations, as well as poultry farms and mining outfits.

Peace talks between the NPA and the government collapsed in February 2013 due to rebel demands that detained comrades be freed.