Cotabato City, Philippines - Three Muslim separatist rebels and one government militiaman were killed in a clash in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Sunday. The firefight erupted when 25 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels stormed an outpost of government militiamen in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, on Saturday.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce said the militiamen fought the rebels until soldiers arrived in armoured personnel carriers.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - One soldier was killed and two were injured in a clash with Muslim secessionist rebels in the southern Philippines Tuesday, a regional army spokesman said.

Colonel Jonathan Ponce said the fighting erupted when patrolling troops encountered at least 20 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Alamada town in North Cotabato province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Ponce said there was no report of MILF casualties in the firefight that lasted for one hour. The rebels withdrew to the jungles.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - Seven soldiers and 20 Muslim rebels were killed in a clash in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Saturday.

The fighting erupted at dawn Friday when patrolling troops encountered about 80 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce said.

Ponce said five soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which lasted for more than eight hours.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - A homemade bomb ripped through a passenger bus terminal in a southern Philippine city Sunday, but no one was hurt, police said.

The explosion occurred before dawn at the Husky Bus Terminal in Cotabato City, 960 kilometres south of Manila, according to Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief.

Dangane said two buses and a concrete wall were partially damaged by the blast.

"Police investigators are looking into extortion and transport business rivalry as possible motives," he said.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - Two soldiers were killed and two more wounded in a clash with unidentified gunmen in the southern Philippines, an army brigade commander said Wednesday.

The fighting erupted Tuesday evening when soldiers securing a highway in Baloi town in Lanao del Norte province, 810 kilometres south of Manila, encountered an undetermined number of heavily armed men, Colonel Benito De Leon said.

De Leon said there were no reported casualties on the enemy side.

Cotabato City, Philippines  - A leftist activist was killed by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine city, a police report said Tuesday.

Eleazar Billanes, a spokesman for the leftist South Cotabato People's Alliance, was shot on Monday by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Koronadal City in South Cotabato province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

He received several gunshot wounds and was killed instantly as he walked home from a public market, the report said.