Six communist rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in the southern Philippines at the weekend, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

The firefight broke out Saturday when troops checked on reports of armed guerrillas in a remote village in Lupon town in Davao Oriental province, 1,050 kilometres south of Manila, dpa reported.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman, said the bodies of the dead guerrillas were recovered from the clash site on Monday.

He said no casualties were reported on the military side.

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