January 14, 2002 By INQ7.net with Agence France-Presse, 650 US troops due for 'war games' against Abu Sayyaf,

January 14, 2002 By INQ7.net with Agence France-Presse, 650 US troops due for 'war games' against Abu Sayyaf,

Posted: 7:40 PM (Manila Time) | 

ABOUT 150 US Special Operations Forces and 500 "support and maintenance" soldiers will join their Filipino counterparts later this month to help crush the Muslim bandit group Abu Sayyaf, whom the Philippine and American governments link to terror suspect Osama bin Laden, officials said Monday. 

An initial group of US advisers have already arrived to check logistics in the military's sprawling Southern Command in Zamboanga City. The others will be arriving in batches from Tuesday, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said. 

The US soldiers will follow Filipino troops as they pursue Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the jungle-clad terrain of Basilan island. Some 1,200 Filipino soldiers will be involved in the exercise. 

The Americans will not engage in actual combat, but will be armed and will fire back if attacked. 

The Abu Sayyaf, a small group of Muslim militants set up in the early 1990s with seed money from suspected terrorist mastermind bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, is holding hostage US Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and a Filipina nurse in Basilan. 

"In Basilan, the US troops will join the (Filipino military) units. They will observe and make joint assessments on the (Filipino) troops as the latter go out in operations," Reyes told a news conference. 

"The US troops will be armed for self-protection and will engage in combat only for self-defense," he said, adding that a Filipino commander would make all decisions on the field. 

Reyes also ruled out any possibility that US forces might be secretly dropped into Basilan's jungles, saying: "This is not a covert operation." 

The training, called "Exercise Balikatan 02-1" is to cover the period January to June, but may be extended up to the end of the year "depending on the situation," Reyes said. 

By the time the Americans leave, the Filipino military "shall have acquired the competence to conduct its own counter-terrorist training." 

Officials said the soldiers will be staying in a military camp in Zamboanga City, across the strait from Basilan, but will also be joining as observers in foot patrols conducted by Filipino troops. 

Military spokesperson Brigadier General Edilberto Adan said the US troops had been briefed of the dangers of operating in Basilan, and that there was a possibility that the Americans could sustain casualties. 

"The Americans are coming here into the Philippines knowing full well the situation, meaning there are risks involved. If they sustain casualties, they have already factored that in their planning," he said.