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MANILA (AFP) - Two communist insurgents and a soldier were killed in the central Philippines in incidents linked to this week's mid-term elections, the military said Friday.

Two members of the Communist Party's New People's Army (NPA) were killed Thursday during security operations near the town of Capalonga, southeast of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said in a statement.

No government casualties were reported, he said.

A soldier was also killed Tuesday on the central island of Samar when the NPA ambushed an army unit assigned to escort ballot boxes, Torres said.

His statement follows reports on Wednesday that communist rebels in the northern Philippines killed seven soldiers in an attack on an army patrol that was securing ballots.

The military said up to 100 NPA guerrillas took part in the pre-dawn attack as the soldiers secured a road near the town of Boliney, in Abra province.

The NPA has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 and it is considered one of Asia's longest running communist insurgencies.

Election-related violence, including NPA attacks, has claimed more than 100 lives.

President Gloria Arroyo has vowed to crush the rebel movement before her six-year term ends in 2010.