Manila  - Three government troops were killed Wednesday in an attack by communist rebels in a remote town in an eastern Philippine province, a military report said.

The soldiers were returning to camp from a public market when about 10 heavily armed guerrillas ambushed them in Bacalon village in Magallanes town, Sorsogon province, 360 kilometres south of Manila.

The three soldiers were killed on the spot and the guerrillas took one of their service pistols.

Troops were dispatched to the area to pursue the guerrillas who fled to the jungle.

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