Eight Filipino soldiers and militiamen have been killed in separate land mine attacks launched by communist rebels in the southern Philippines.
Regional army spokesman Lieutenant Nasrulah Sema says about 50 New People's Army rebels detonated a land mine then opened fire on Monday on an army truck, killing seven soldiers and militiamen in a mountainous region in Tulunan town in North Cotabato province.
At the time, the soldiers were on their way to deliver cash allowances to militiamen at a rural outpost.
Sema said a truckload of soldiers was deployed to hunt down the attackers but they were hit by another land mine and came under rebel fire in a second attack that killed a soldier and wounded four others in North Cotabato's Makilala town.
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