08:03, May 24, 2011
Suspected leftist rebels have seized and torched a passenger bus along a highway in southern Philippines on Sunday evening, police said on Monday.
Four alleged New People's Army rebels commandeered the Holiday Bus with plate number LXA-820 along the Davao-Cotabato in Astorga village, Sta. Cruz town, in Mindanao's Davao del Sur province past 08:30 p.m. local time, said Senior Superintendent Ronald dela Rosa, provincial police chief.
The rebels at gunpoint ordered the driver and passengers to get off and set the vehicle on fire, Dela Rosa said, adding that while another group of guerrillas attacked a police detachment at the same village apparently to prevent the policemen from responding to the burning incident.
The lawmen fought back for several minutes forcing the rebels to withdraw, Dela Rosa said.
"No one was hurt during the incidents and the suspects immediately fled after the incidents. Our troops and soldiers from the military who checked on the site early today found a live round of rifle grenade and two burnt shotguns outside of the bus," the police official said.
He said the damage to the destroyed bus is pegged at 5 million pesos (116,280 U.S. dollars) and that the most likely motive was the bus company's refusal to pay extortion money to the rebels.