It has been confirmed tonight that Fr Michael Sinnott, an elderly Irish priest held captive by a kidnap gang in the Philippines, has been released.

A special prayer rally has been held in Dublin calling for the safe return of kidnapped Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott.

The Philippine government rejected a US$2m (€1.3m) ransom demanded by the kidnappers of an Irish priest Michael Sinnott in the country's volatile south and said today that efforts would continue to safely secure his freedom.

FEARS are growing about the wellbeing of kidnapped Irish priest Fr Michael Sinnott, who is entering his third week of captivity in the Philippines today.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs has discounted speculation that kidnapped Irish priest Fr Michael Sinnott has died in captivity.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says it has been assured by the Philippine Government that rumours surrounding the fate of kidnapped priest Fr Michael Sinnott have not been verified.

Prayers have been said at masses across the country for Fr. Michael Sinnott who is being held by an armed gang in the Philippines.

THE elderly Irish priest being held hostage in the Philippines is still alive but has become very weak as his health fails, according to a military commander who made contact yesterday with his kidnappers.

The Irish ambassador to Singapore is travelling to the Philippines to help secure the release of Fr Michael Sinnott, who was abducted by armed men yesterday.

An ailing 79-year-old Irish missionary dragged away at gunpoint from his southern Philippine residence is probably in the hands of Muslim militants seeking a ransom, officials said today.

Fears were growing today for the health of an elderly Irish missionary who was dramatically kidnapped in the Philippines by armed raiders who burst into his home.

A 79-YEAR-OLD Irish priest has been kidnapped in a southern region of the Philippines after he was bundled into the back of pickup truck.

At least 27 people were killed and 13 others injured when a tanker truck exploded on a mountain road in the southern Philippines, police said today.

A homemade bomb has exploded in southern Philippines, killing two police and a man who was trying to move it.