China's air force has carried out its first ever military drill over the western Pacific Ocean, state media said, highlighting Beijing's growing military reach.

Several aircraft from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday flew over the ocean via the Bashi Channel, which runs between Taiwan and the Philippines, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A Filipino oil worker has been killed and five others wounded in a rocket attack on a coastal town west of the Libya capital, a Libyan security source said on Monday.

Three other Filipino oil workers were wounded in Sunday's attack on Zawiya, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tripoli, the source said.

The Philippines on Saturday shot back at Beijing's criticism of its activities in the South China Sea, saying they were "in no way comparable to China's massive reclamation activities" in the waters.

It also said accusations that Manila was being "hypocritical" would not distract people from Beijing's own actions which were raising regional tensions.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino called on lawmakers Friday to pass a bill endorsing a pact aimed at ending a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion, warning them they would otherwise start counting "body bags".

Aquino had wanted the bill, which would give autonomy to the majority Catholic nation's Muslim minority in the south, passed this month.

Beijing escalated its war of words with the Philippines over the South China Sea on Friday, decrying Manila as "hypocritical" for criticizing its land reclamation works in the area.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying's denunciation came one day after the Philippine foreign secretary accused Beijing of "accelerating its expansionist agenda" and maintained that Manila would resume its own construction in the South China Sea.

The Philippines accused China on Thursday of seeking to take control of nearly the entire South China Sea with an expansionist agenda dominated by "massive reclamation" works.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said China's efforts were aimed at undermining a United Nations tribunal that is due to rule early next year on a Philippine challenge to its claims to the disputed waters.

The murder trial of a U.S. Marine accused of killing a transgender woman in the Philippines began on Monday, after the victim's family angrily rejected his plea bargain offer.

Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton appeared in court dressed in a black suit and dark tie for the start of the trial, five months after he allegedly murdered Jennifer Laude in a red-light district hotel.

More than 120,000 people have fled their homes in the impoverished southern Philippines since fighting broke out between government troops and Islamic militants in late January, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

"UNHCR is concerned about the safety of civilians as the conflict spreads into local villages," spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters.

The Philippines said Tuesday a media report that the Islamic State group had abducted four Filipino medical workers in the Libyan city of Sirte was wrong.

One report cited members of a rival militia saying four nurses from the Philippines were abducted from Ibn Sina hospital on Monday, while another said about 20 medical workers, including Filipinos, were abducted at the same hospital.

U.S. forces played a "substantial" role in a botched anti-terrorism raid in the Philippines that left 44 local police commandos dead, according to a Senate report released Tuesday.

The raid, known locally as Oplan Exodus, has plunged President Benigno Aquino's administration into crisis and jeopardised efforts to end a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency.