Kidnap gang killed in Philippines

Soldiers in the Philippines have killed six suspected members of a gang holding a kidnapped Italian priest, in a clash in a remote southern village.

Brig Gen Angel Atutubo, in charge of the military rescue of the Rev Giuseppe Pierantoni, said no soldiers were wounded in the fighting south of the town of Ipil, about 500 miles south of Manila.

It was not clear if Pierantoni, 44, kidnapped more than three weeks ago after he celebrated Mass at his church in the south, was with the gunmen who came under fire.