Philippine military officials say rescuers have found the wreckage of a missing fighter jet and the bodies of its two pilots in a mountainous region of a southern province where they were deployed to fight communist rebels.

Rescuers found the wreckage of a Philippine fighter jet and the bodies of its two pilots on Wednesday in a mountainous region in the country’s south where they had been deployed on a nighttime mission to fight communist guerrillas,

A Philippine air force fighter jet with two pilots on board has gone missing during a night combat assault in support of ground forces who were battling insurgents in a southern province, and an extensive search is underway,

The missing FA-50 fighter jet of the Philippine Air Force was found in the Kalatungan mountain range in Bukidnon province. Lt. Col. Salvacion Evangelista, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Eastern Mindanao Command,

The Air Force announced the designation of two unmanned fighter jets as the two jets are expected to be "ready to fly this summer."

Soldiers are searching for a fighter jet that went missing during a midnight military operation in the Philippines. The military aircraft departed from the Mactan–Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu province but reportedly lost contact with the rest of the contingent minutes before landing in the early hours of March 4.