Zamboanga City, Philippines - Three abducted staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were visited on Wednesday by a local official on the southern Philippine island where they were being held by Muslim militants.

Vice Governor Lady Anne Sahidula of Sulu province, which covers Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, said she met with Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba and their kidnappers.

Cotabato City, Philippines - Muslim rebels attacked two villages in a southern Philippine province, wounding two civilians, a regional military spokesman said Wednesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels first attacked Lower Dado village in Alamada town in North Cotabato province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, wounding a 19-year-old woman.

Ando said the rebels were driven back by army troopers stationed in the village.

Manila - The Philippines will dispatch 320 soldiers to be part of the United Nations' peacekeeping missions in the strife-torn countries of Haiti and Liberia next month, the country's military chief said Wednesday.

Armed forces chief of staff General Alexander Yano said the contingent was part of the Philippines' "continuing commitment to comply with peacekeeping activities in countries other than our own."

Manila- Three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped nearly two weeks ago in the southern Philippines have resumed contact with their colleagues and said they are in good health, a senior Red Cross official said Tuesday.

Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba called up their colleagues by telephone over the weekend after five days incommunicado, said Alain Aeschlimann, head of the committee's operations for the Asia Pacific in Geneva.

Manila - Japan will extend 9.5 million dollars in rice aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the strife-torn southern Philippine region of Mindanao, a Japanese embassy statement said Monday.

The aid will be in the form of 7,500 metric tons of rice, which will be distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) to people displaced by fighting between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Mindanao.