Manila - An Army lieutenant was killed Monday in an attack by communist rebels in a remote northern Philippine town, a military report said.

Three more soldiers were wounded in the fighting that erupted when about 20 guerrillas attacked an Army outpost in Mabuno village in Gattaran town in Cagayan province, 375 kilometres north of Manila.

The report did not say whether the rebels suffered casualties but said more troops had been dispatched to the area to pursue the rebels who sought refuge in a nearby forest.

Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia. (dpa)