Cotabato City, Philippines - Thirty-one Muslim rebels and one soldier were killed in three days of fighting in the southern Philippines, military officials said Friday.

Nine Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and one soldier were killed in clashes late Thursday in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, said Major Peter Edwin Navarro, an army brigade spokesman.

Cotabato City, Philippines - At least 19 Muslim rebels were killed in two days of clashes with government troops in the southern Philippines, an army brigade spokesman said Thursday.

The clashes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerillas occurred Tuesday and Wednesday in the towns of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Guindulungan in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, Major Peter Edwin Peter Navarro said.

"The rebel fatalities were confirmed by civilians and military radio intercepts," he said

Manila - Rescuers struggled Wednesday to save 13 miners trapped for two days in a flooded shaft in the northern Philippines as the nation's death toll from Typhoon Hagupit rose to eight, officials said.

The rescue operation was slowed down by floodwaters inside the mineshaft in Itogon town in Benguet province, 225 kilometres north of Manila, said Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, a regional police chief.

The miners entered the shaft late Monday despite heavy rains brought by Hagupit, which pummelled large parts of the Philippines for three days, triggering flashfloods and landslides.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said the storm killed eight people, left 15 missing and displaced more than 10,000.

Cotabato City, Philippines - Two Muslim secessionist rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in the southern Philippines, a regional military spokesman said Wednesday.

The fighting erupted Tuesday when government troops caught up with fleeing Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, Major Armand Rico said.

Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting and were being treated at a hospital in nearby Cotabato City, Rico said.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong braced for Typhoon Hagupit Tuesday, cancelling dozens of flights and ferry services, after the storm killed five people and left four missing in the Philippines.

Two of the people killed in the Philippines drowned in a swollen river in the central province of Antique, two were buried in landslides in the northern city of Baguio and one was electrocuted in the northern province of La Union, relief officials said.

Rescuers were also struggling to extricate 13 miners trapped in a flooded shaft of a goldmine in Itogon town in Benguet province, 225 kilometres north of Manila.