Manila - The chief of the Philippines' Armed Forces warned Monday that Muslim rebels might resort to terrorism amid an intensified military offensive against them in the southern region of Mindanao.

The military launched the offensive against two factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after the rebels attacked several towns in Mindanao last month, killing nearly 200 people and displacing more than 500,000 residents.

Manila - Six people were killed and seven others missing when a landslide struck a mining village in the southern Philippines, local officials said Sunday.

At least 13 homes were buried in the landslide in Masara village in Maco town, Compostella Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, on Saturday.

Provincial social worker Josephine Frasco said three days of continuous heavy rains triggered the landslide.

Tagum City, Philippines - Communist rebels freed on Saturday two police officers and a man who posed as a police informant they held captive for four days in the southern Philippines.

The three captives were released unharmed to Congressman Manuel Zamora in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province, 945 kilometres south of Manila.

The guerrillas seized the three on Tuesday in a roadblock in the gold-rush area of Mount Diwalwal in Monkayo.

Roel Agustin, a rebel spokesman, said the three were released on humanitarian grounds.

Cotabato City, Philippines - A senior Red Cross official urged on Saturday government troops and Muslim guerrillas to spare civilians in the escalating hostilities in the southern Philippines.

Dominik Stillhart, International Committee of the Red Cross deputy director for operations, met Saturday with some of the more than 500,000 civilians displaced in the fighting between soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern region of Mindanao.

Manila - The United Nations on Friday vowed to send more aid to more than 500,000 people displaced by fighting between Muslim separatist rebels and government troops in the southern Philippines.

Amid reports that some aid deliveries were being blocked, the UN office in Manila assured humanitarian assistance in conflict areas in the southern region of Mindanao were unhampered.

The UN said it has so far not encountered any difficulties or challenges in delivering food to distribution centres.

Manila - The Philippines' year-on-year inflation rate rose to 12.5 per cent in August, near a 17-year-high, despite the easing of world fuel prices, the government said Friday.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said the August index was the highest since December 1991, when the inflation rate hit 13.2 per cent.

The figure was higher than July's 12.3 per cent and the 2.4 per cent in August 2007.