Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today Filipino peacekeepers and humanitarian workers would remain in Iraq despite deadly attacks that killed 42 people a day earlier.

"I sympathise with the victims' families in this recent wave of bombings in Iraq," which also wounded more than 200 others, Arroyo said in a statement.

"This series of atrocities will not discourage us from sending medical and peacekeeping troops to a nation that is induced in dire need of help," she added.

Arroyo, however, ordered the foreign affairs department to ensure that Filipinos were "out of harm's way in their places of residence and work".

"We do not wish to place Filipino lives at unnecessary risk," she said.

Nearly 200 Filipino soldiers, policemen, doctors, nurses and social workers have been deployed in Iraq as part of an international peacekeeping and humanitarian mission. – Sapa-DPA.