The Philippines said Friday it may quickly withdraw from a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights because of security concerns, following the abduction of four Filipino troops. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said he had made a recommendation to President Benigno Aquino to pull out the more than 300 troops from the area. "As soon as he says go, we will undertake to do that as soon as possible," del Rosario told reporters.

An armed group on Tuesday abducted four UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights which has been hit by a mounting spillover from the Syrian civil war, the United Nations said. The four were patrolling near the Al Jamlah locality in the ceasefire zone between Israel and Syria where 21 peacekeepers were seized by Syrian rebels in March, said a UN peacekeeping spokeswoman, Josephine Guerrero. tw/sst

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved on Thursday the creation of a 12,600-strong peacekeeping force in Mali starting July 1, which will be supported by French troops if needed to combat Islamist extremist threats in the West African country. France, aided by some 2,000 troops from Chad, began a military offensive in January to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Mali's Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of Mali.

President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday extended the deployment of 1,345 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo where South Africa will form part of a first-ever offensive United Nations peacekeeping brigade. The fresh deployment comes after Zuma faced public anger over the dispatch of troops to the Central African Republic, where rebel clashes killed 13 soldiers last month. The deaths were South Africa's heaviest military loss since apartheid and mired in claims of dodgy deals with ousted president Francois Bozize. Zuma later pulled all troops out of the country.