Philippine troops clash with communist rebels in Davao, 4 dead

The Philippine military says two soldiers and two rebels were killed while 15 other troops were wounded in a landmine attack followed by a clash in southern Davao city, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown.

Maj. Ezra Balagtey, a military spokesman, said Friday that the soldiers were pursuing the rebels from a communist group on Thursday after a harvester had been set on fire on a pineapple plantation when the guerrillas detonated a land mine.

Two soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded in the blast. Two rebels died in the ensuing firefight. Earlier this month, both Duterte and the guerrillas called off unilateral cease-fires in the 48-year insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running Marxist rebellions.