Monday, October 16, 2006
Thousands of US Marines train Philippine troops (11 a.m.)
MANILA -- Thousands of U.S. troops began two weeks of war drills with Philippine soldiers, starting with a helicopter-borne raid, as a series of bombings by al-Qaida-linked militants put authorities on the highest alert.
About 5,700 US Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan, and sailors from the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group in Sasebo, Japan, were taking part alongside 1,300 Filipino soldiers on Monday.
In Manila, US and Philippine military officials held an opening ceremony for the exercises, which will include live-fire drills and air, ground and naval maneuvers in the northern and southwestern Philippines.
In one of the first exercises Sunday, Philippine troops watched US Marines aboard CH-53 helicopters insert a team to capture a high-value individual hiding in a building - a scenario that has been put to use during operations in the southern Philippines.
"What we try to do here is make the training as realistic as possible," said US Marine Sgt. Levi Konz, a Special Operations Training Group instructor.
The annual military exercises, which have been credited with giving Filipino troops a crucial edge in battling militants in the restive south, coincided with three bombings last week, including one powerful blast that killed six people and wounded 29.
On Sunday, a small bomb explosion at a police camp on Jolo island wounded two people, and troops dismantled another explosive device just hours before it was timed to go off.
Authorities blamed two Indonesian militants from al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah and their Filipino cohorts from the Abu Sayyaf group - the target of a US-backed offensive on Jolo island.
The bombings may be in retaliation for the Oct. 3 arrest of the wife of Dulmatin, one of the Indonesians hiding on Jolo and key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, officials said. (AP) |
