GAMU - A clash between soldiers and communist rebels killed four troops and two guerrillas in a mountainous town in the northern Philippines, the military said Sunday.

An army patrol encountered about 50 New People's Army guerrillas in Mountain Province's Besao town on Friday, triggering a 30-minute battle that left four soldiers and two rebels dead, the military said in a statement.

Three wounded soldiers were airlifted from Besao, about 280 kilometers north of the capital, Manila, to a military camp for treatment, said Lt. Col. Leopoldo Galon Jr., spokesman of the army's 5th Infantry Division.

Separately, communist guerrillas on Saturday ambushed a military truck carrying soldiers who had been protecting President Arroyo as she visited Compostela Valley, 950 kilometers southeast of Manila, an armed forces spokesman said.

"Pursuit operations are still ongoing. No one among the government troops was hurt," Jose Angel Honrado told Manila radio DZBB on Sunday. -AP