Cotabato City, Philippines - Three civilians, including a 5-year-old boy, were killed and nine were taken hostage by Muslim separatist rebels in two attacks in the southern Philippines, police said Friday.

The civilians were slain when Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked a military outpost Thursday in Midsayap town in North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, said the town's police chief, Inspector Renante Cabico.

Cabico said the victims were among 150 people caught in the crossfire between the MILF guerrillas and army troops.

Manila  - A senior Iraqi diplomat on Friday urged the Philippines to lift a four-year travel ban to his country to allow more Filipinos to work there amid a massive reconstruction effort.

Adel Mawlood Hamoudi al-Hakimh, Iraq's charge d'affaires in Manila, said there were about 15,000 Filipinos working for companies in Iraq despite the ban.

He said more foreign workers were needed as Iraq implements a new phase of its reconstruction in 2009.

"For the new phase we are planning to do in 2009, we will be needing thousands of foreign workers," al-Hakimh said. "That's why we are so in need of Filipino help and experience."

Cotabato City, Philippines  - Three civilians, including a five-year-old boy, were killed in an attack by Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, police said Friday.

The attack occurred Thursday in Midsayap town in North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, according to town police chief Inspector Renante Cabico.

Cabico said an undetermined number of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked a military outpost in Midsayap and indiscriminately opened fire as they withdrew.

Manila - Philippine share prices rose 3.078 per cent on Friday as investors snapped up bargain stocks on positive economic prospects despite the global financial crisis.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange added 59.08 points to close at 1,978.05 from Thursday's finish of 1,918.97.

A total of 1.004 billion shares worth 1.373 billion pesos (28.02 million dollars) were traded.

Gainers led losers 49 to 26, while 47 issues were unchanged.

Manila - Philippine economic managers on Wednesday cut domestic growth forecasts for this year and 2009 amid grim prospects of recession in some of the world's largest economies.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 was forecast to grow only between 4.1 per cent and 4.8 per cent, down from the government's earlier target of 5.5 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said GDP growth next year was expected to average between 3.7 per cent and 4.7 per cent, from the previous forecast of 6.1 per cent to 7.1 per cent.

Manila - An official of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Wednesday urged South-East Asian countries to prepare programmes to mitigate the negative impact of the global financial crisis on food security.

Purushottan Mudbhary, chief of the Policy Assistance Branch of the FAO regional office, said food supply would not be a problem as production was expected to be "quite good" for the rest of the year and 2009.

But he warned that "the problem is the access."