| A mid-level Philippines military officer was shot dead in an ambush in a northern Manila suburb on Tuesday, police said. Army Colonel Raul Heredia, 49, a professor at the government’s National Defense College, was shot dead in the Quezon City district while at the wheel of his car as he drove to visit his parents, a police report said. A lone gunman attacked the motorist before being whisked away by a motorcycle-riding accomplice. The motive of the attack is unknown, it added. Communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas assassinated more than 100 soldiers and police in Manila during a brief urban insurrection campaign in the late 1980s. The two sides are currently observing a Christmas ceasefire, and the government is trying to convince the rebels to resume peace talks next month. |