Troops have been battling communist and Muslim militants simultaneously in the country's south. Three communist guerrillas were killed in Davao Oriental province and two others died in Compostela Valley in separate clashes with army troops Saturday, military officials said. In the central town of Maasin, about 50 communist rebels stormed a police station and seized 12 rifles and pistols, two-way radios, laptop computers, jewelry and a patrol car, said police Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, who condemned the attack. While President Rodrigo Duterte has pursued talks with the communist rebels, who have been waging one of Asia's longest-running Marxist insurgencies, he has expressed outrage over continuing guerrilla attacks. More than 300,000 villagers of Marawi and outlying towns have been displaced and hundreds remained trapped in the Marawi fighting.

Source: Fox News June 18, 2017 10:53 UTC