RP, US Hold Naval War Games Off Mindanao

U.S. troops during a joint anti-terror training in Jolo island in the Sulu Archipelago in southern Philippines. The Philippines and United States are to hold new naval training off the Sulu Archipelago in June. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 24 May) – Philippine and U.S. soldiers are to begin a joint naval exercise off the southern region of Mindanao, where Filipino security forces are hunting down members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiya.

Some 1,400 American and 600 Filipino troops are expected to join the training next week off the Sulu Archipelago, where fighting between military and Abu Sayyaf forces had been reported.

Filipino military officials said the training is part of an annual activity between the two countries, but this would be the first time that a naval exercise would be held in the south.Previous naval trainings were held in northern Philippines.

“We welcome this training as it will improve our combat capabilities and strengthen military bilateral relations between the Philippines and the United States,” a regional Filipino military spokesman, Major Eugene Batara, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

The training, Batara said, is designed to enhance the ability of soldiers to fight terrorism and other maritime functions from rescue to interception.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in the southern Philippines and helping the Philippine military defeat terrorism.

U.S. forces have trained Filipino troops the past years in the southern region in anti-terrorism warfare and provided intelligence about the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.

A small fleet of EP-3 Orion spy planes are also deployed in the restive region. (Mindanao Examiner)