Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Government troops rescued a kidnapped 7-year-old boy and killed one of his captors Tuesday in the southern Philippines, a Marine commander said.

Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero said the boy was kidnapped by two motorcycle-riding gunmen in front of his house in Isabela City in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.

Guerrero said the suspects fired at a nearby marine checkpoint as they tried to escape along with their victim, but Marines chased them into a nearby village.

Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Two Muslim militants were killed Monday during a clash with government troops in a southern Philippine island, a navy spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said the fighting erupted before dawn when troops searching for several kidnap victims in Akbar town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, encountered undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf rebels, a militant group linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

Zamboanga City, Philippines - A Filipino-Chinese businessman has been freed a week after he was seized by Muslim militants on a southern Philippines island, a police report said Saturday.

Diong Hin Que, a trader, was freed by his captors late Friday near a public school in Indanan town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, the report said.

Que said he did not pay any ransom for his release and said his kidnapping was a case of mistaken identity. He did not give details about his ordeal or his abductors.

Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Muslim militants on Friday freed unharmed an abducted employee of a lending firm in the southern Philippines after three days of captivity, a military spokeswoman said.

Ammad Sali was one of two of the firm's employees abducted Tuesday in Sumisip town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.

Sali was recovered by troops in the village of Mahayhay in nearby Maluso town Friday morning, said Lieutenant Esteffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.

Zamboanga C

Zamboanga City, Philippines - A Philippine mayor, his driver and a bodyguard were killed Thursday in an attack by unidentified gunmen, police said.

Karam Jakilan - mayor of Albarkah town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila - died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds.

His driver and bodyguard were also killed in the ambush, said the provincial police chief, Superintendent Salik Macapantar.

The attack occurred while Jakilan was travelling near Badja village in Tipo-Tipo town, Macapantar said.