MANILA -- Philippine troops shot dead a notorious leader of a gang of kidnappers and rescued a four-year-old girl and her nanny from a weeklong captivity, police said.

Two other suspected members of the "Pentagon" gang were captured while one policeman was injured in the gunbattle in Magallanes Municipality in Cavite Province, 65km (40 miles) south of the capital Manila, a police announcement said.

President Gloria Macapagal, who has ordered a full-scale war on crime gangs to ease investor concerns about law and security, visited the battle scene after the encounter and congratulated police and soldiers.

Many of the gangs claim religious or ideological justification for their actions, but authorities say most are just after the money.

The kidnap leader, identified by police as Faisal Marohombsar, has been hunted by police since he and two other gang members escaped from a Manila police detention center in June.

The three were captured in a Manila Hotel in February, Reuters reported.

The rescued girl was identified by police sources as a niece of a prominent Filipino business executive. The gang had demanded a ransom of 100 million pesos ($1.9 million) for her and her nanny, sources said.

The girl was on her way to a school when she was abducted along with her nanny on August 19.