Manila - The Philippines will dispatch 320 soldiers to be part of the United Nations' peacekeeping missions in the strife-torn countries of Haiti and Liberia next month, the country's military chief said Wednesday.

Armed forces chief of staff General Alexander Yano said the contingent was part of the Philippines' "continuing commitment to comply with peacekeeping activities in countries other than our own."

Manila- Three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped nearly two weeks ago in the southern Philippines have resumed contact with their colleagues and said they are in good health, a senior Red Cross official said Tuesday.

Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba called up their colleagues by telephone over the weekend after five days incommunicado, said Alain Aeschlimann, head of the committee's operations for the Asia Pacific in Geneva.

Manila - Japan will extend 9.5 million dollars in rice aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the strife-torn southern Philippine region of Mindanao, a Japanese embassy statement said Monday.

The aid will be in the form of 7,500 metric tons of rice, which will be distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) to people displaced by fighting between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Mindanao.

Manila - Muslim militants holding captive three staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a southern Philippine island have been evading pursuing troops by constantly moving their hostages, a police official said Monday.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, national police chief, said government security forces were having a difficult time pinpointing the exact location of the kidnappers on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila - Two South Korean nationals were killed in an armed robbery in the Philippines on Monday while two suspects were killed in a shootout with responding police officers.

The South Koreans - Rho Kwang Hyun, 40, and Shin Young Hyun, 51 - were driving in Talisay town in Batangas province, 105 kilometres south of Manila, when a car blocked their path.

Four gunmen from the car then declared a robbery and shot the South Koreans dead after divesting them of their valuables, according to police officer Erwin Ordinario.