DAVAO CITY, Philippines, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and over a dozen wounded in a series of attacks by rebels in southern Philippines on Thursday, the military said Friday.

The dead included two soldiers and three New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas, while 15 soldiers were also wounded, according to Captain Rhyan Batchar, spokesperson of the army's 10th Infantry Division.

Batchar said the military casualties happened after insurgents set off an improvised explosive device at an army convoy responding to a burning of an equipment owned by Del Monte Philippines at Calinan district, some 15 km southeast of Davao City proper.

Two soldiers died in the bombing while 15 others wounded, and two rebels were also killed in an ensuing firefight around 4 p.m. local time, Batchar said.

An insurgent was also killed when rebels attacked a militia detachment in nearby Binaton village in nearby Paquibato district around 5 a.m., the army spokesperson said.

He said pursuit operations were being launched against the rebels.

Thursday's fighting was the latest in the escalation of violence between the Philippine government troops and the NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a leftist rebellion since 1969, following the termination of the ceasefire separately declared by both sides last year.