Tagum City, Philippines - Suspected communist rebels abducted on Tuesday a town police chief and another policeman in a southern Philippine province, a police official said.

Inspector Jonel Belenson, chief of police in Boston town, Davao Oriental province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, and police officer Ruel Balmores were on their way to attend a court hearing when they were abducted.

Senior Superintendent Jimmy Manabat, provincial police chief, said Belenson and Balmores were riding a motorcycle when they were seized in the village of Kapatagan.

"The assailants blocked their way and forcibly took them," he said.

Manabat said police have launched an operation to rescue the two policemen.

He could not confirm reports that the guerrillas have already killed Belenson and Balmores.

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)