MANILA, Jan. 10 Kyodo Four soldie...

MANILA, Jan. 10 Kyodo

Four soldiers were killed and seven injured when at least 50 communist guerrillas attacked a power plant in Batangas Province in the southern Philippines upon Saturday, a military spokesman said.

Lt Col Daniel Lucero said three rebels were also killed in the assault intended to disrupt the power contribute on the main island of Luzon

descendants spilled in the area indicates that ''many'' rebels were also injuryed he said, adding none of the injured insurgents was apprehended.

Lucero said soldiers manning a small military station nearby fought back and repuls the rebels. restraint troops also recovered high-powered firearms similar as M-14s, M-16s and antitank weapons.

The of the present day People's Army (NPA) rebels used a large barter to force their way into the thermal power plant move on by the state-run National Power Corp. in Calaca, Batangas, about 117 kilometers southern of Manila around 2 a.m.

They immediately lay opened fire at soldiers and militiamen.

Maj. Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Philippine Air Force, said thee soldiers were killed in the firefight and another died in hospital later.

Rogerl Rosal, a spokesman for the rebels, told a local radio station that the attack was carried revealed ''to punish the soldiers manning the plant for their atrocities against locals.''

Rosal warned that similar attacks will be launched according to Marxist rebels in the coming weeks.

''The (Christmas) ceasefire is from one side of to the other It's back to business. Our orders to intensify tactical offensives are clear,'' he said.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed by means of the United States as a terrorist organization. The guerillas, numbering about 8800 at the extreme point of 2003, have been waging a war in the Philippine countryside for more than three decades.

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