A policeman was killed and a second kidnapped after heavily armed gunmen opened fire at a diving resort off Malaysia's Borneo island, a security official said Sunday.

The shooting on Mabul island marks a fresh escalation of violence in the remote area of Sabah state, one of the world's top diving hotspots, renowned for its pristine dive sites.

An Australian convert to Islam who used the Internet to urge people to join "jihad" in Iraq and Syria was arrested in the Philippines on Friday, local police said.

Robert Edward Cerantonio, 29, who also goes by the name Musa Cerantonio, was detained in the central Philippine city of Cebu and will be deported to Australia, said Superintendent Conrado Capa, the region's deputy police chief.

Tokyo on Friday was slapped with a lawsuit over its decision to expand the scope of Japan's military, a divisive shift for the pacifist nation that sparked protests at home and drew sharp criticism from China.

The legal action filed with the Tokyo District Court seeks to block a decision by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet last week to reinterpret rules which have long banned the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances.

Six Philippine soldiers who were killed in one of the bloodiest clashes against Al-Qaeda-linked militants this year were hit by friendly fire, the military acknowledged Friday.

The soldiers were hit by artillery rounds fired by another military unit as troops battled Abu Sayyaf militants on the strife-torn southern island of Jolo on June 19.

Philippine police and troops have clashed with dozens of communist guerrillas in a remote southern mountain village, leaving six troopers wounded, the military said Wednesday.

Police Special Action Force commandos and army troops were patrolling on Talomo mountain outside Davao city on Mindanao island when they encountered at least 30 New People's Army (NPA) rebels, triggering the gunbattle Tuesday.

A Philippine court on Friday ordered the arrest of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the country's most prominent politicians and the third legislator facing criminal charges in a massive corruption scandal.

The 90-year-old former defense secretary, senate president, and martial-law enforcer of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos is accused of taking nearly $4 million in kickbacks from illegally diverted state funds.

The Philippines urged its large Muslim minority on Thursday to reconsider plans to join pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia this year due to a deadly virus outbreak there.

About 6,500 Filipinos who are set to join the annual Hajj pilgrimage in October are being urged to go next year instead, when the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is expected to be under control, health department spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said.

More than 200 U.S. and Filipino Marines launched a mock amphibious assault Monday on an enemy beachfront close to a disputed South China Sea outcrop.

Amid driving rain and rough waves, five amphibious assault tanks roared off from a U.S. destroyer anchored off Zambales province, about two hours drive northwest of Manila, and landed on the soggy beach peppered with imaginary foes.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed Friday to deliver self-rule to minority Muslims by January 2015, in line with a peace treaty signed with its largest rebel group.

"We're hoping that all the steps will be finished (so) that they can take position by January of 2015," he told reporters.

The United States and the Philippines kicked off joint naval exercises Thursday in the South China Sea near waters claimed by Beijing, amid tense territorial rows between China and its neighbors.

Filipino military officials said the week-long maneuvers, involving three U.S. warships and more than a thousand servicemen, would address Manila's "capability gaps" as well as testing its newest military vessels.