Manila  - A town police chief and two police officers were killed Monday in an attack by communist rebels in the southern Philippines, a police report said.

Two more police officers were wounded in the attack shortly past noon Monday in Bansalan town in Davao del Sur province, 945 kilometres south of Manila.

The victims were aboard a vehicle on the way to the hinterlands of Bansalan when an undetermined number of guerrillas fired at them in the village of Balagunon.

More government troops have been dispatched to the area to pursue the rebels.

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