Bus drivers burned to death

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) - Two bus drivers were burnt to death early on Saturday in the Philippines when armed communist guerrillas set fire to their vehicles, police said.

A small group of gunmen broke into a bus depot on the remote central island of Biliran before dawn and poured petrol over the parked vehicles, said Senior Superintendent Alfredo Sabornido, the provincial police chief.

"The owner woke up and seeing his buses on fire tried to rescue his drivers, who were sleeping inside the vehicles," Sabornido told reporters by telephone.

"However both were burnt to death."

It was unclear if the intruders knew people were asleep inside the vehicles during the arson attack.

Police later arrested two suspects at a checkpoint, said national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz.

"Initial investigation points to NPA extortion," Cruz told reporters.

He was referring to the 5,000-member New People's Army, which has been waging a 42-year guerrilla campaign across the impoverished nation that has claimed thousands of lives.

Officials say the rebellion is financed mainly by the guerrillas forcing rural businesses to pay so-called "revolutionary taxes".

The military estimates the NPA raised 95.5 million pesos ($2.21 million) through extortion in the first 11 months of 2010.

President Benigno Aquino resumed talks with the Maoist rebels last month, more than six years after his predecessor Gloria Arroyo called off peace negotiations.

Although the rebels rejected a ceasefire after the first round of talks in Norway, the Philippine government expressed hope it would be able to negotiate a political settlement in 18 months.

source: mb.com.ph