WORLD : 3 Die in Filipino Strike Violence

MANILA —  Communist guerrillas supporting a general strike called by leftist unions demanding pay raises set fire to buses and clashed with police and transport drivers today. The violence killed three people but failed to paralyze the capital.

Armed forces chief Gen. Renato de Villa said a bus driver and his conductor were fatally stabbed in Dasmarinas outside Manila by guerrilla strike enforcers, and three police officers were wounded in clashes with rebels in the city.

And in Bulacan province north of Manila, officials said one guerrilla was killed and three soldiers wounded when soldiers tried to foil a rebel attempt to burn a bus.

Defense and military officials said the strike stopped much public transportation in the capital, and four major bus companies suspended services to outlying provinces. But in the capital, the military brought in 200 trucks to ferry thousands of stranded commuters to work. They also provided escorts on buses that remained on their routes.