The military on Saturday said it has arrested a ranking leftist rebel and five others in southern Philippines.

A female political instructor of the New People's Army (NPA) identified only as Carla, and five others were apprehended on Friday by soldiers from the army's 28th Infantry Battalion at a hinterland community in Don Mariano village, Lupon township in Mindanao's Davao Oriental province around 3 p.m. local time, said Eduardo Gubat, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command.

The soldiers were on security operations when they arrested the six people, and recovered from them improvised bombs, a fragmentation grenade, two cal. 45 pistols with ammunition and backpacks full of subversive documents.

"Our soldiers fired a warning shot and surrounded the suspects who did not resist," said Benjamin Tiangco, a local army commander.

Tiangco said the suspects were now at the custody of the local police for the filing of appropriate charges.

Since January, at least 36 NPA members have been arrested by police and military in Eastern Mindanao, the Eastmincom official said.

The 4,000-strong NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting a leftist insurgency in 60 Philippine provinces since 1969.