A home-made bomb planted by suspected Muslim rebels exploded prematurely in a market in the southern Philippines today, killing a would-be attacker and wounding 15 civilians, officials said.

Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants killed seven policemen in an ambush today after their comrades shot to death two government soldiers in a separate attack in the southern Philippines, security officials said.

A politician killed in a bomb blast outside the Philippines congress may have been targeted by al-Qaida after double crossing them, it emerged today.

A congressman killed in a bomb blast outside the Philippine legislature was a former member of an al-Qaida-linked militant group who switched sides to support a US-backed offensive against them, police said today.

Security forces tried to disrupt plots by al Qaida-linked militants to stage attacks but failed to track them, setting off an alarm that influenced a decision to postpone a pair of Asian summits, officials said today.

SURVIVORS yesterday told Saddam Hussein’s trial how poisonous clouds of gas killed children and blinded residents during a military offensive against Kurds in 1987.

A BOMB stashed in a pack of clothes exploded on a ferry in the southern Philippines as it was loading passengers yesterday morning, injuring at least 30 people, including nine children.

An American missionary held hostage by Muslim extremists for 377 days has returned to the Philippines under tight security to testify against her abductors.

Thousands of people climbed to a Philippine hilltop today where three members of a Christian cult were nailed to crosses in a Good Friday rite of sacrifice for peace in the country’s war-weary south.

Helicopter gunships have fired rockets and troops bombed a suspected Muslim guerrilla camp killing at least 20 rebels in the Philippines.

The Philippine army has killed at least five Muslim separatists on the remote southern island of Basilan.

A powerful bomb exploded in a downtown food plaza in the southern port city of Zamboanga today, killing at least six people and injuring 53, officials said.

A Muslim extremist rebel leader has threatened to behead an American couple before the Philippine president’s visit to the United States next month, if the army does not halt its offensive on the group.

The Philippine Army has rescued 13 hostages from the Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels, who have beheaded 10 captives in the last three days.

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.

A top leader of a Muslim extremist kidnapping group and three junior guerrillas have been arrested in the Philippines.

Muslim rebels who kidnapped around 24 hostages, including three Americans, have dumped the beheaded bodies of two of their captives near a main road outside the capital of a remote island in the southern Philippines.

A top Philippines military spokesman said today that officials believe American hostage Guillermo Sobero is dead.

Minutes before a deadline by Muslim extremists to behead an American captive, the Philippine Government today dropped its objection to bringing in a Malaysian negotiator in an effort to end a two-week-old hostage crisis.

Authorities were today anxiously awaiting contact with Muslim extremists as the rebels’ threatened to behead three American captives.

Authorities were today anxiously awaiting contact with Muslim extremists as the rebels’ threatened to behead three American captives.

Deadly street battles erupted in a southern Philippines town today as a self-styled ‘‘suicide squad’’ of Muslim extremists invaded a hospital and church, seizing patients, doctors and a priest.

The six-year-old girl who was kidnapped in the Philippines has had an emotional reunion with her British stepfather.

The six-year-old stepdaughter of a British man has been rescued after she was kidnapped in the Philippines.

The British stepfather of a girl kidnapped in the Philippines has arrived in the south-east Asian country.

The British stepfather of a six-year-old girl kidnapped at gunpoint by Muslim guerillas from her Filipino home is flying to be at his wife's side.

The Philippine army has suspended efforts to rescue six-year-old Eiman Grant from Muslim rebels to allow negotiations for her release.

The military in the Philippines say they are closing in on rebels who have kidnapped six-year-old Eiman Grant.

The British stepfather of a six-year-old girl kidnapped in the Philippines has dismissed claims that the snatch was organised by her mother.

The Filipino military say the kidnap of a six-year-old girl may have been organised by her mother.

A man whose six-year-old stepdaughter was kidnapped by guerillas in the Philippines has offered to swap places with her.

A man whose six-year-old stepdaughter was kidnapped by guerillas in the Philippines has offered to swap places with her.

The mother of a girl kidnapped in the Philippines has told how the gang threatened to kill her child if she told police.

A man whose six-year-old stepdaughter has been kidnapped by guerillas in the Philippines has spoken of his family's ordeal.

Four suspected Muslim gunmen have kidnapped a six-year-old British girl in the southern Philippines after her mother could not meet their demand for cash.