The same day, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that the NPA will be the next target of the government after the country’s security forces killed pro-IS extremists.
Previously, on July 19, Duterte directed not to resume peace talks with the NPA unless the group promises to stop attacks on government soldiers in the southern province of Mindanao.
The Philippine government blamed the NPA – a branch of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the southern Compostela Valley province, for attacking two Presidential Security Group vehicles along a highway on the main southern island of Mindanao.
The peace negotiations between the government and the NPA have been interrupted since Duterte took office last year while unilateral and bilateral ceasefires were not effective
