By Agencies

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At least 11 Philippine soldiers have been killed and seven others wounded in an ambush by communist guerrillas, according to a military spokesman.

An army platoon patrolling a village outside Mansalay township on Mindoro island, south of Manila, was ambushed by about 60 New People's Army fighters, Lieutenant-Colonel Noel Detoyato, a spokesman for the army, said on Saturday.

Detoyato said the soldiers were deployed to the area to prevent the fighters from extorting money from candidates to allow them to campaign for May elections.

It was the army's biggest loss in a single encounter with the NPA this year.

Money for votes

Colonel Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman, said there were an "undetermined casualties" on the side of the NPA during the ambush.

"The troops fought it out literally to the last bullet," he said.

More soldiers backed by helicopter gunships have been dispatched to track down the NPA fighters, he said.

The NPA has been fighting one of thelongest communist insurgencies in the world with over forty years of trying to establish state in the Philippines.   

The rebel group has around 5,000 members and they no longer have fixed camps, instead travelling from village to village to blend in with the locals and gaining their trust, our correspondent said.