April 1, 2007, AP / GMA News, AFP to follow US strategy vs Sulu rebels linked to al-Qaeda,

April 1, 2007, AP / GMA News, AFP to follow US strategy vs Sulu rebels linked to al-Qaeda,

Government troops will follow a US strategy in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in the province of Sulu by carrying out civic projects to erode local support for the insurgents, the military chief said Sunday.

The shift in battle strategy, which would start in about a week, would not mean a letup in military action against Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremists and Indonesian terror suspects in Jolo, or a reduction in the more than 7,000 troops pursuing them, military chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon said.

"We are about to shift to another kind of operations which will feature a lot of engineering, civic action and medical action programs," Esperon told a television show.

The civic projects are aimed at easing the plight of villagers displaced by clashes between troops and the insurgents in the province of Sulu, and convincing them they are not the target of military assaults, Esperon said.

Predominantly Muslim Sulu, about 900 kilometers south of Manila, is among the country's poorest regions.

The military launched "Oplan Ultimatum" with the deployment of thousands of troops in the province last August, killing Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and his presumed successor, Abu Solaiman, in battle victories that were praised by Washington.

Esperon told The Associated Press that humanitarian missions in Sulu's impoverished regions where the Abu Sayyaf are most active would be carried out by Filipino soldiers not actively engaged in combat. - AP