Manila - A Singaporean terrorist suspect has been working with Muslim militants holding captive three Red Cross workers on a southern Philippine island, officials said Thursday.

The Singaporean suspect has been with the Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels since the start of the hostage crisis on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, more than two months ago.

"We confirmed that a Singaporean terrorist is with the group," National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said. "We identified the Singaporean in one of the cellular phone conversations."

Manila  - A Philippine Red Cross official on Wednesday asked Muslim militants to prove that they did not behead one of three abducted Red Cross workers after the government ignored their demand for a troop pullout on a southern island.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, asked the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels to allow him to talk to the three Red Cross captives on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Gaza/Cairo - Representatives of rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah returned to Cairo on Tuesday to resume talks on forming a "national unity" government, representatives of the groups said.

Egyptian-mediated talks between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, were scheduled to resume on Tuesday, ahead of a broader meeting including more factions on Wednesday.

Manila  - Seventeen people were killed when communist rebels attacked a military outpost in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, an army spokesman said.

An undetermined number of guerrillas swooped down on an army patrol base in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province, 855 kilometres south of Manila, according to Major Michele Anayron.

Anayron said troops manning the outpost clashed with the rebels, killing 11 of them.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - One soldier was killed and two were injured in a clash with Muslim secessionist rebels in the southern Philippines Tuesday, a regional army spokesman said.

Colonel Jonathan Ponce said the fighting erupted when patrolling troops encountered at least 20 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Alamada town in North Cotabato province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Ponce said there was no report of MILF casualties in the firefight that lasted for one hour. The rebels withdrew to the jungles.

Manila  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged Muslim militants in the southern Philippines to spare the lives of three Red Cross workers amid a threat to behead one of the hostages on Tuesday.

The Abu Sayyaf rebel group has given the Philippine government until Tuesday afternoon to meet a demand to pullout all soldiers, policemen and militiamen from practically the entire Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.