Manila  - A police officer was killed Friday when communist rebels attacked a town police station in the southern Philippines, a police report said.

The report said about 50 heavily armed communist rebels swooped down on the police station in Carmen town in Agusan del Norte province, 795 kilometres south of Manila.

The rebels outnumbered the police officers in the station and shot one of the police officers in the head.

Manila  - A Philippine court convicted three Muslim militants Friday in the deadly bombing of an overhead train in Manila more than eight years ago and sentenced them to more than 20 years in prison.

Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Cielito Mendaro-Grulla found Mukhlis Hadji Yunus, Abdul Fatak Paute and Mamasao Naga guilty of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

Manila - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Thursday it has lost contact with its three staff who were abducted a week ago by Muslim militants in the southern Philippines.

The ICRC said the last time their three abducted workers - Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba - were able to call was on January
19.

The three victims had just visited the provincial jail on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, when gunmen blocked their vehicle and seized them on January 15.

Manila  - Three people were injured when communist rebels raided a city jail in the southern Philippines and carted away firearms, army spokesmen said Thursday.

About 40 armed guerrillas swooped down on the jail Wednesday in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province, 855 kilometres south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said.

"A jail personnel, a worker and one inmate were wounded in the attack," he said.

The rebels seized three M16 rifles and two pistols from the jail's guards, he added.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - A broadcast journalist was killed by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine city, a police official said Thursday.

Badrodin Abas, 38, was shot in the head by two motorcycle-riding gunmen late Wednesday in Cotabato City, 930 kilometres south of Manila, according to the city's police chief, Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane.

Dangane said the victim, a broadcaster for a radio station in Cotabato, was riding in his van when the suspects blocked it and shot him in the head.

Zamboanga City, Philippines - An influential Muslim leader on Wednesday joined efforts to secure the release of three International Committee of the Red Cross staff members who were seized by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.

The Philippine National Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon had approached Muslim leader Nur Misuari to help in securing the release of the hostages abducted last week by Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.