MANILA. Mar 2: Communist rebels protesting oil price increases attacked the Department of Energy office in Manila and two gasoline depots in the central Philippines with grenades ana automatic weapons fire, causing damage but no Injuries, police said, reports AFP.

The attacks in the capital and the Pilipinas Snell Petrdfeum Corp, and Petron Corp, facilities in the town of Amlan on Negros island were carried out within a six-hour interval before dawn today.

The Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), a breakaway faction of the mainstream communist movement, owned responsibility for the attacks, calling them "direct expressions of the intense disgust of the people over the series of oil price increases In recent months."

In a statement to news agencies. it accused the government of "kow-towing to the demands and interests of the greedy oil

cartel.' in apparent reference to foreign oil firms dominating the industry.

It alleged Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui "has not only coddled the cartel but has barred legitimate efforts to control or check the oil prices increases."

Car-riding gunmen fired on the Department of Energy office at 3:15 a.m. (0115 BST) in suburban Manila with a rocket-propelled grenade and assault rifles, police said.

The grenade struck the fourth floor where Tiaoqui's office is located, smashing a hole in the window and tearing down a ceiling. The bullets hit offices on the second and third floors.

Manila Chief Superintendent Edgardo Aglipay said the rebels fired from a car and a taxi as they sped past the office on the edge of the army headquarters and the Makati financial district.

Police immediately ordered increased security around an oil depot in central Manila near

the presidential palace and around the offices of oil companies.

This Is a cowardly act. They should talk to us peacefully to resolve any problem without resorting to these useless terrorist acts,' Tiaoqui said in a radio Interview.

Presidential executive secretary Ronaldo Zamora said: The agenda seems to be political, maybe to show that they can destabilise the government.

"We hope they realise the implication of their actions. If they have a political statement, they can announce it instead of doing something that can harm not only the government but also the people."

Manila is set to hold peace negotiations with the breakaway group in two weeks after talks with exiled leadership of the main communist movement broke down.

Thursdays incident was similar to the bombing of the Shell headquarters in Makati last December.