One militiaman was wounded in a foiled attempt by leftist rebels to overrun a militia outpost in southern Philippines on Sunday, authorities said on Monday.

The attack happened as 30 New People's Army guerrillas fired at the 2nd Platoon, 9th Civilian Armed Auxiliary (CAA) Company detachment in Linda village, Nabunturan town, in Mindanao's Compostela Valley province around 5:20 a.m., Captain Raul Villegas, spokesperson for the army's 10th Infantry Division, said.

Rolly Aguilar, a militiaman, was hit in the arm and brought to a local hospital for treatment as soldiers and militiamen pursued and engaged the attackers, Senior Superintendent Camilo Cascolan, Compostela Valley police chief, said.

The rebels were reportedly planning to storm the outpost to seize weapons and kidnap the detachment commander, a regular soldier.

The Philippine army oversees the 50,000-strong CAA militia ( formerly Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit), a paramilitary spread in platoon-sized units throughout the country.

Composed of local male residents, the Cafgus perform military duties and assist the army and police in their counterinsurgency operations against leftist rebels and in the southern island of Mindanao, Muslim separatists.



On Friday, a soldier was also killed as the same band of NPA rebels attacked an army patrol in nearby Mawab township.

The 4,000-strong NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting a leftist insurgency in 60 Philippine provinces since 1969.