MANILA: A land mine explosion wounded at least six soldiers in a southern Philippine province where 19 soldiers were killed by Muslim militants last month.

Army spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc said platoons of army scout rangers came under fire from unidentified men and then were hit by a land mine blast on Monday in a hinterland near mountainous Sumisip town in Basilan province.

Cabunoc said the soldiers were hunting down al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants and other gunmen who were accused of killing five rubber plantation workers and a militiaman in Sumisip last month.

It was not immediately clear whether the country's largest Muslim militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, was involved in Monday's attack.

The group was blamed for the October 18 killing of 19 soldiers in Basilan.