Davao City, Philippines  - Two soldiers were wounded when a landmine exploded in a remote Philippine town, a regional military spokesman said Monday.

The victims were conducting a combat patrol on Sunday in Maco, a town in the Compostela Valley province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, when they stepped on the landmine, Major Armand Rico said.

Rico said the communist New People's Army was responsible for planting the pressure-released claymore landmine, a device banned by the United Nations.

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