Filipino NPA guerrillas seize hostages

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MANILA, Philippines, July 6 (UPI) -- More than 30 NPA guerrillas have raided a mining firm and seized three civilian hostages in the Philippines.

The New People's Army attack took place at a mining company in Rosario town in Agusan del Sur province Thursday.

Philippine Army 4th Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Julio Eugene Osias said the NPA raiders attacked the VTO Mining at Ridge Mountain in Purok 11, Barangay Baguyan 3, disarming the security guards and ransacking the company's offices, the Philippine Star reported Thursday.

The NPA unit was reportedly led by Renato Sayasat alias Commander Friday of the NPAs Northern Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee's Committee 14.

After the dispatch of army troops to the area, the NPA guerillas took three employees hostage, including Dodo Ocite, the son of the mining firm's owner, Engineer Vivencio Ocite.

The hostage situation forestalled the military from entering the mining firm's compound and the NPA members used the hostages as human shields to effect their escape.