Manila - One government soldier and two communist rebels were killed in separate clashes in the eastern Philippines, an army spokesman said Thursday.

One soldier and one communist rebel were killed on Wednesday during a clash in Basey town in Samar province, 570 kilometres south-east of Manila, said Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner.

Brawner said another soldier was wounded in the fighting that erupted when patrolling troops encountered heavily-armed communist rebels in the village of Bulao in Basey.

In a separate clash on Wednesday, one communist rebel was also killed in the town of Candelaria, also in the eastern province of Quezon.

The fatality was a member of a group of the guerrillas who raided on the weekend a provincial jail in the nearby city of Lucena and freed seven of their imprisoned comrades.

Government troops recovered five backpacks containing police and military uniforms and combat boots, which the guerrillas used during the raid, Brawner said.

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