Davao City, Philippines - Suspected communist rebels on Tuesday seized three policemen in an attack on a gold mining area in the southern Philippines, police said.

The suspects also burned a government-owned dump truck in the gold-rush area on Mount Diwalwal in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province, 945 kilometres south of Manila, police said.

The abducted officers were members of a police unit in Mount Diwalwal, said Senior Inspector Rodolfo Pascua, town police chief.

Davao City, Philippines  - Three communist rebels were killed Saturday in a clash with government troops in the southern Philippines, a regional military spokesman said.

Davao City, Philippines  - Communist rebels torched a light plane during an attack on a banana plantation in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said Saturday.

The guerrillas swooped down on the plantation in Maco town in Compostela Valley province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, on Friday, said Major Armand Rico, a regional military spokesman.

Rico said the single-seater plane was used by the plantation for aerial spraying of fertilizers.

Davao City, Philippines - A government militiaman was killed in a clash Friday with communist rebels in a southern Philippine town, police said.

The pre-dawn firefight broke out when militiamen and soldiers encountered about 50 armed guerrillas while on patrol in Bansalan town in Davao Del Sur province, 990 kilometres south of Manila.

An undetermined number of communist rebels were believed to have been injured or killed, town police chief Felix Mabalot said

Davao City, Philippines  - Communist rebels on Tuesday freed two soldiers held captive for almost two weeks in the southern Philippines, a guerrilla spokesman said.

The captive troops were released on "humanitarian grounds," said Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the guerrilla unit that held the soldiers hostage.

Army Sergeants Napoleon Jerasmeo and Huberto Corbita were seized April 25 during a rebel blockade in a remote village in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Sanchez did not give details on the release of the soldiers.

Regional Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Jose Bautista confirmed the release of the soldiers but made no details available.