Two soldiers were killed in a clash with Communist rebels who abducted a town mayor and his two military security escorts in the southern Philippines the day before, the army said Sunday. Three soldiers were also wounded in the firefight in the town of Boston in Davao Oriental province, 990 kilometres south of Manila, where the rebels allegedly took Mayor Henry Dano and his escorts. An army report said the troops were searching for Dano and his security escorts in Boston on Saturday when they encountered a group of rebels, triggering the fighting. There was no sighting of the mayor or his escorts, the report added. Dano, mayor of the town of Lingig in nearby Surigao del Sur province, and his security escorts were abducted earlier Saturday from the official's home. Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal, a regional police spokesman, said police investigators have not yet established the motive behind the kidnapping.
