Manila - Three people were injured when communist rebels raided a city jail in the southern Philippines and carted away firearms, army spokesmen said Thursday.
About 40 armed guerrillas swooped down on the jail Wednesday in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province, 855 kilometres south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said.
"A jail personnel, a worker and one inmate were wounded in the attack," he said.
The rebels seized three M16 rifles and two pistols from the jail's guards, he added.
Cotabato City, Philippines - A broadcast journalist was killed by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine city, a police official said Thursday.
Badrodin Abas, 38, was shot in the head by two motorcycle-riding gunmen late Wednesday in Cotabato City, 930 kilometres south of Manila, according to the city's police chief, Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane.
Dangane said the victim, a broadcaster for a radio station in Cotabato, was riding in his van when the suspects blocked it and shot him in the head.
Zamboanga City, Philippines - An influential Muslim leader on Wednesday joined efforts to secure the release of three International Committee of the Red Cross staff members who were seized by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
The Philippine National Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon had approached Muslim leader Nur Misuari to help in securing the release of the hostages abducted last week by Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.
Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed a new peace adviser Wednesday to boost her government's efforts to revive stalled peace talks with communist and Muslim rebel groups.
Executive secretary Eduardo Ermita said Arroyo named former police chief Avelino Razon as the new presidential peace adviser, replacing former armed forces chief Hermogenes Esperon.
Peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim rebel group, was stalled in August 2008 after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of a key territory agreement.
Manila - The Philippine armed forces on Tuesday ignored a demand by Islamic militants holding three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff on a southern island to stop military operations to rescue the hostages.
Armed forces chief of staff General Alexander Yano said there was no halt in military operations to rescue Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, who were seized last week on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.
The three hostages, who were abducted after visiting the provincial jail on Jolo, are being held by al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in the jungles of Indanan town.
Manila - Three people were injured when communist rebels raided a city jail in the southern Philippines and carted away firearms, army spokesmen said Thursday.
Cotabato City, Philippines - A broadcast journalist was killed by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine city, a police official said Thursday.
Zamboanga City, Philippines - An influential Muslim leader on Wednesday joined efforts to secure the release of three International Committee of the Red Cross staff members who were seized by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
