The World - News from June 20, 1988

A mortar attack by Communist insurgents on an army post in the northern Philippines triggered fighting in which 43 people were killed, the military said. Military reports said 11 soldiers and 32 rebels from the New People’s Army died in the fighting, in Isabela province. The battle began before dawn Thursday when about 150 rebels fired mortars at an army post in Palanan town, 195 miles north of Manila. Meanwhile, in the southern Philippines, officials said they are investigating whether a weekend power blackout that plunged part of the island of Mindanao into darkness was caused by storms or rebel gunfire.