TWO bombs exploded yesterday in the southern Philippines city of Zamboanga, killing six people and injuring at least 144.

Ten US servicemen are feared dead after their Chinook helicopter crashed into the sea off the Philippines during a counter-terrorism training exercise.

Heavily armed Muslim rebels released 89 hostages today in exchange for safe passage through Philippine military forces that have besieged them for more than 24 hours.

A Muslim separatist group in the Philippines today said it believed an American hostage was alive despite claims of another rebel group that they beheaded him.