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Monday, February 16, 2004 Posted: 8:37 AM EST (1337 GMT)

Police blamed New People's Army (NPA) rebels for the attack.

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- Communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels have ambushed a police patrol, killing eight of them in the central Philippine island of Masbate, police said.

The attack Monday came two days after peace negotiators from the government and the rebels concluded talks in Oslo to find a lasting political settlement to more than three decades of armed insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Police spokesman Joel Goltiao said soldiers and police were verifying reports on Monday that a village chief in Milagros town was also killed in rebel fire.

"Eight policemen were killed when their jeep hit a landmine," Goltiao told reporters. He said a rebel was also killed in the brief gunbattle.

He said soldiers and police were in pursuit of the rebels.

Peace negotiations had stalled for nearly three years after NPA guerrillas, which the U.S. government and several Western European nations have listed as a foreign terrorist organization, assassinated local politicians in 2001.

The communist guerrillas stepped up armed activities just as peace negotiators were wrapping up discussions in Oslo, agreeing to resume talks next month in China.

Two rebels were killed and three army troopers were wounded when 50 rebels stormed an army outpost on Sunday in the central Philippine region, the military said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, seeking a fresh six-year term in May elections, has been negotiating separately with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to end three decades of Muslim separatist rebellion in the south.