SOUTH ASIA: The US and the Philippines yesterday launched joint military training as the war against terror moved to south-east Asia.
Special military exercises got under way after a ceremony attended by diplomats and senior military officers from the two countries in the southern Philippine military headquarters of Zamboanga.
The US is training Filipino soldiers fight the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group based on Basilan Island nearby.
The US has linked the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Security was tight, with intelligence reports that unidentified groups planned to disrupt the controversial exercises. The acting US ambassador, Mr Robert Fitts, moved to ease fears that troops would play a proactive role.
"We are here to launch a round of exercises and training designed to enhance the capabilities of both of our armed forces, and to help the armed forces of the Philippines hone their skills to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf scourge," he said.
Mr Fitts told soldiers that Abu Sayyaf was "a scourge which has terrorised the population of the Sulu archipelago, and has kidnapped and murdered Philippine citizens as well as those of other nations".
The exercises are planned to last for at least six months and will involve about 3,800 Filipinos and 600 Americans.
More than 100 US soldiers are already in the southern city and 500 more, including Special Forces, will arrive in the coming weeks.
US soldiers will join Filipinos in training patrols in the jungles of mountainous Basilan Island, where the Abu Sayyaf has been holding a US missionary couple and a Filipino nurse hostage for more than eight months.
The group has previously killed hostages and released others in return for ransoms.
Basilan, 560 miles south of Manila, is thick with forests which prevent soldiers from seeing a potential enemy beyond five metres.
Just before the ceremonial opening got under way, about 30 protesters, chanting "Yankees, go home", burned the US flag in a noisy rally at the gates of the military headquarters.
An American was feared dead and his German companion wounded on Wednesday when unidentified gunmen ambushed them while they were trekking on Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
Last June, a group of US navy personnel taking part in joint military exercises were fired on by gunmen on the slopes of Mount Pinatubo. The gunmen were believed to be communists.
Manila insists the American troops are in the country for a limited period only and that they will not engage in combat. The exercises will begin with orientation sessions and lectures before US troops go to Basilan.