Tagum City, Philippines  - Communist rebels released a police officer they seized earlier in the week in the southern Philippines, a police report said Friday.

Rouel Balmores was released late Thursday to a local official in Cateel town in Davao Oriental province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, the report said.

Balmores and his superior Inspector Jonel Belenson were seized by the rebels on Tuesday in Kapatagan village in the nearby town of Boston.

Belenson's body, riddled with bullets, was recovered hours after the kidnapping.

No further details were issued on Balmores' release.

Communist rebels have in the past abducted and killed police officers accused of committing human rights abuses and other "crimes against the masses."

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