MANILA, Philippines -- Unidentified gunmen burst into a workers' meeting at a university Monday and opened fire, killing two labor leaders and wounding a third, police said.
The attack at the Jesuit-run Ateneo University in Quezon City outside the capital followed a weekend of clashes between army troops and communist guerrillas that left 21 people dead.
Killed in the university raid were Eduardo Federico, 40, president of the Democratic Independent Workers Association, and his treasurer, Ernesto Gonzales.
A third labor figure, Honorio Baculao, 34, was wounded in the attack at the national labor seminar attended by some 200 workers.
Police said Federico was a former ranking leader of the outlawed Communist Party in the central island of Negros. He survived an assassination attempt earlier this year in Negros over a dispute with a left-leaning union of sugar cane workers.
The slayings, carried out by unidentified gunmen armed with pistols and assault rifles, were under investigation, police said.
Earlier Monday, the military reported a series of clashes between government troops and rebel forces.
The bloodiest encounter took place Sunday in Ragay, Camarines Sur, 130 miles southeast of Manila, when guerrillas of the communist New People's Army ambushed troops called to investigate a spate of recent killings. Two civilians and six rebels died in the 90-minute gunbattle.
In the northern province of Kalinga Apayao, guerrillas ambushed a military vehicle on Saturday, leaving three soldiers dead and a militiaman wounded.
The army also reported 10 guerrillas were killed in scattered clashes in three provinces in the southern island of Mindanao over the weekend.
The 17,000-strong NPA has been battling the government for 21 years.
