Manila - Two communist rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in an eastern Philippine province, a military spokesman said Sunday. Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said the fighting erupted before dawn on Saturday in a remote village in Casiguran town in Aurora province, 155 kilometres north-east of Manila.
Torres said government troops recovered two assault rifles left behind by the fleeing rebels.
He said the army suffered no casualties.
The military hopes to destroy the communist insurgency before the end of the term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010.
Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.
