Manila - A Philippine Air Force C-130 cargo plane with nine people aboard has been missing and feared to have crashed, officials said Tuesday.

Lieutenant Pedrito Cadungog, air force chief, said the plane took off from the international airport in Davao City, 990 kilometres south of Manila, on Monday evening.

It was bound for the eastern city of Iloilo, where it was supposed to arrive about two hours later.

But Cadungog said the air force lost contact with the plane about 10 minutes after it took off.

Cotabato City, Philippines - At least 100 Muslim rebels were killed in three days of airstrikes and ground assaults by government forces in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Saturday.

Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said the military offensive would continue against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas in seven towns in Maguindanao province, 
960 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila - Five people were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of a town deputy mayor in the southern Philippines, officials said Saturday.

Vice Mayor Wilson Nadang was unhurt in the ambush which happened Friday in Santo Nino village near Tukuran, a town in the province Zamboanga del Sur, 810 kilometres south of Manila.

Nadang, who is deputy mayor of the nearby town Labangan, told a local radio station that five of his security escorts were killed in a gunbattle with the attackers.

Police said initial investigation showed the incident could have been a "misencounter" between Nadang's security escorts and government security forces manning a checkpoint.

Manila  - Fighting between Muslim separatist rebels and government troops in the southern Philippines escalated Friday as peace talks between the guerrillas and the government crumbled, a regional army spokesman said.

Sporadic clashes were reported in seven towns in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, where 16 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas and one soldier have been killed in the past three days.

Manila - Two government soldiers were wounded Thursday in clashes with Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, where hostilities have killed 102 people and displaced nearly 150,000 residents since last week.

The fighting occurred in Damatulan village in Midsayap town, North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, one of five towns occupied by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels last week.