Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Three soldiers were killed and an army officer was missing in a clash with communist rebels in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Saturday.

Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Decapia said the fighting erupted Friday when army special forces raided an encampment of communist rebels in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila  - A fisherman was killed in a rare shark attack in the northern Philippines, a police report said Friday.

The report said 38-year-old Joel Bacud suffered shark bites in his rib cage and chest in a rare attack on Thursday off the town of Paoay in Ilocos Norte province, 435 kilometres north of Manila.

Manila  - The Asian Development Bank said Friday that it approved a 1-million-dollar technical assistance grant to help boost the Philippine government's efforts to attain food security amid sharp surges in global food prices.

The Manila-based bank said the grant was to finance an analysis of the Philippines' agricultural and irrigation sectors.

Manila  - At least nine people were killed when a passenger motorboat capsized amid bad weather in the central Philippines on Thursday, local officials said.

It was the second motorboat to sink in the Philippines in three days.

The boat was battered by strong waves spawned by a tropical depression while on its way to an island off Concepcion town in Iloilo province, 450 kilometres south-east of Manila.

Manila - An Australian family in the Philippines sought the help of police and the Australian embassy on Thursday after armed men allegedly surrounded a resort they owned on a central island.

Greg Hutchinson told police and the Australian embassy that he and his family were holed up in their apartment next to the resort on Boracay Island, 330 kilometres south of Manila.

"The embassy is in communication with the family and local police who advised the embassy that police officers were on the scene to resolve the matter," Kiel Enrique, the embassy's press officer, said.

"We will maintain communication with the police and continue to provide assistance to the family and ensure its welfare and safety," Enrique added.

Manila - Philippine troops have arrested a suspected Islamic militant commander accused of being involved in the kidnapping of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers from a Malaysian resort island in 2001, a military official said Thursday.

The suspect, Sakirin Andalan Sali, 44, was arrested Wednesday on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, a stronghold of the Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebel group, said Major General Juancho Sabban, commander of an anti-terrorism task force on Jolo.