LEGASPI, Philippines - Philippine troops killed 10 communist guerrillas in two separate incidents south of the capital on Friday, a military spokesmen said.

Nine fighters of the communist New People's Army (NPA) were killed in a clash with elite Scout Rangers in Pilar town, about 340 kilometres (213 miles) southeast of Manila, said Major Harold Cabunoc.

Pilar mayor Dennis Reyes confirmed that clashes were taking place and said they were evacuating schoolchildren from the area.

In another incident in Manito, 30 kilometres from Pilar, one NPA fighter was killed when his seven-man band encountered an army patrol, a military statement said.

The latest efforts to revive peace talks between the government and the communist insurgents collapsed earlier this month after the rebels demanded the release of more of their captured comrades.

The 5,300-member NPA and its political leadership, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), have been waging a 40-year Maoist campaign to seize power.

Peace talks with the CPP have been suspended since 2005, when the government refused to ask the European Union and the United States to remove the two groups from their foreign terrorist watchlists.