Zamboanga City, Philippines - Three people were killed and seven wounded Monday when gunmen attacked a truck owned by a rubber plantation cooperative in the southern Philippines, police said.

The ambush occurred in Lantawan town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, said Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, provincial police commander.

Macapantar said four of the wounded were in critical condition and rushed to hospital in Isabela City.

He said police still have no suspects and were investigating the ambush.

Manila  - Philippine authorities Sunday rejected fresh demands by Muslim militants for government forces to withdraw from a wide area of a southern island where the rebels were holding captive two European Red Cross workers.

The al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebel group also renewed their threat to kill the two hostages - Swiss Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni - unless troops pulled back from their jungle hideout on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Two people were killed when an improvised bomb exploded outside a fast-food restaurant in a southern Philippine city, a provincial police chief said Saturday.

Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar said eight more people were injured in the explosion that occurred late Friday in Isabela City in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.

Macapantar said a man and a woman passing by when the bomb exploded had died.

"They were killed on the spot," he said.

Manila  - Six soldiers were wounded Friday in a landmine explosion on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are still holding captive two foreign Red Cross staff, a navy spokesman said.

The explosion occurred after a military truck loaded with marines hit a landmine in Patikul town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, according to Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo.

Arevalo said all the injured soldiers suffered shrapnel wounds and were being treated at a military hospital in Jolo.

Manila  - Philippine shares rose 2.3 per cent Friday after world leaders vowed to pump in more money into the International Monetary Fund to help troubled countries.

The Philippine Stock Exchange 30-share composite index gained 45.71 points to finish at 2,028.59, from Thursday's close of 1,982.88.

A total of 1.33 billion shares valued at 2.87 billion pesos (59.79 million dollars) were traded.

Gainers outpaced losers 82 to 20, with 30 issues unchanged.

Manila - A twin-engine plane with seven people on board went missing on Thursday in the northern Philippines, a senior aviation official said.

Ruben Ciron, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said the missing Islander aircraft came from Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province, 330 kilometres north of Manila.

Ciron said the plane was bound for the nearby town of Maconacon, just a 35-minute flight away, but it did not reach its destination.