Manila - Filipino activists held on Friday a silent protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in the Philippine capital to remember the first anniversary of a bloody crackdown by the military junta against pro-democracy protesters in Yangon.

The protesters donned crimson sashes and lighted incense sticks to offer solidarity and support to the Myanmar people in their fight for democratic reforms.

An estimated 100 people, including a Japanese journalist, were killed when Myanmar soldiers opened fire at more than 100,000 protesters in the streets of Yangon on September 26-27 last year. More than 3,000 people have been arrested in the subsequent crackdown.

Manila - At least 11 people were killed Friday in a clash between government troops and communist guerrillas in the southern Philippines, a regional military spokesman said.

Major Armand Rico said the three soldiers were killed and 14 more were wounded when they raided a guerrilla camp in Lingig town in Surigao del Sur province, 825 kilometres south of Manila.

Rico said eight communist guerrillas were killed in the fighting.

He said the soldiers were able to seize the guerrilla camp after three hours of fighting.

Rico said the three soldiers died after stepping on landmines planted by the fleeing rebels. More troops have been dispatched to the area to pursue the guerrillas.

Manila - Rescue operations for miners trapped in a flooded mineshaft in a northern Philippine mining town entered their fourth day on Friday with still no success in finding survivors, and three dead bodies recovered, officials said.

Neoman dela Cruz, an official of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said the three bodies of the 16 trapped miners were recovered Thursday in the mineshaft in Itogon town in Benguet province, 225 kilometres north of Manila.

The three bodies were found floating in floodwaters inside the shaft.

"We are having a hard time moving inside the mineshaft because of strong currents of floodwaters," he said. "We are still hoping to find some survivors."

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