MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — Four Army soldiers, including a lieutenant, died and three others were injured when they were waylaid by the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in northern Philippines early today, and one missing soldier was found alive, a military spokesman said.

Maj. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, said government troops recovered the bodies of the slain soldiers around 3 p.m. today, or 12 hours after the ambush staged by the undetermined number of rebels.

The four, along with Pfc. Bernard Vergara, were earlier reported missing in action after they were waylaid at San Francisco village in Presentacion town, Camarines Sur province at around 3 a.m., while maneuvering a steep terrain.

Vergara was found unscathed. Earlier, he had sent text messages to his immediate superior, 42nd Infantry Battalion chief Lt. Col. Ernesto Cruz, that he merely hid after the ambush and is just waiting for the reinforcement troops to arrive.

Found with Vergara were the bodies of Lt. Miguel Logronio Jr; Cpl. Arturo Hernandez; Pfc Albert Jamera; and Pfc Edwin Britannico. The four fatalities succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds and shrapnel wounds, Cabunoc said.

The five soldiers along with seven other comrades were dispatched late Saturday to pursue a group of NPA rebels who killed a soldier during an attack of an Army detachment at the nearby Bicalen village around 5:30 p.m Saturday.

The detachment is tasked to provide security to “flagship infrastructure projects” of President Arroyo in the province.

Cabunoc said the pursuing team was ambushed around 3 a.m. at the village while they were negotiating a steep terrain. Quoting a survivor, Cabunoc said the rebels threw grenades at the soldiers’ position while firing their firearms.

Seven members of the team were able to make to their base. Of the seven, Cabunoc said three were injured – two sustained gunshot wounds in the leg, and one sustained a minor wound from shrapnel in the hand.

“I heard automatic fires and hand grenades were lobbed from almost all directions so we were forced to withdraw after being dispersed in the heat of the firefight,” Cabunoc quoted one survivor as saying, adding that an Army company was later dispatched to the site to locate the previously declared missing in action soldiers.

“The thick vegetation in the area has delayed their advance towards the ambush site where the dead soldiers are said to have been spotted,” said Cabunoc.

Vergara was quoted by Cabunoc as saying: “I was lucky enough to have jumped towards a defilade area during the detonation of the first set of landmines. We gave them a good fight but the terrorist rebels have occupied a higher ground. The number of Molotov bombs and grenades thrown at us seemed endless so I decided to crawl farther away from the encounter site.”

“We had also inflicted casualties among our ambushers. I have personally seen them carrying their dead and wounded from my concealed position near the encounter site,” Vergara added.

The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging a guerrilla campaign in the countryside for four decades. The military estimates the NPA strength at more than 5, 000 men scattered in more than 60 guerrilla fronts throughout the country.

Peace talks between the government and the leftists bogged down in 2004 after the United States included the NPA and its parent body as foreign terrorist organizations.