Tagum City, Philippines - Communist rebel gunmen shot dead on Monday two government soldiers in a public market in the southern Philippines, police said.

A fish vendor was also wounded in the attack in the public market in Nabunturan town in Compostela Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila.

Superintendent Ronald Dela Rosa, provincial police director, said the two soldiers were eating breakfast when two gunmen opened fire at them.

"The victims were part of a six-man team who went marketing for supplies," he said. "They were shot at close range, killing them instantly."

The guerrillas took one M-16 rifle and ammunition from the slain soldiers, Dela Rosa said.

Communist rebels have in the past assassinated policemen, soldiers and military and police officials for allegedly committing human right abuses and other "crimes against the masses."

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