- (AFP) - A joint US-Philippines anti-terrorist operation
is to begin Thursday after the two countries resolved problems pertaining
to the number of participating American military advisors, Filipino
officials
said.
-
- The operation against the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas
in the southern Philippines is part of Washington's plan to widen its war
on terror into Southeast Asia.
-
- The US and Filipino commanders of the operation struck
a deal on the "number of participating US troops", Brigadier
General Emmanuel Teodosio told reporters after an emergency meeting here
with a top US military official, Brigadier General Donald Wurster.
-
- The meeting was held after officials said the operation,
earlier scheduled to be formally launched on Wednesday, was postponed
indefinitely
due to what officials described as "procedural issues."
-
- After settling some "minor hitches", the two
sides agreed "that the training's opening will be on Thursday
morning,"
Teodosio added.
-
- Wurster flew into the southern city of Zamboanga from
his Hawaii base for consultations after the Philippines deferred the
scheduled
opening of the "training" phase.
-
- Wurster, special operations chief of the US Pacific
Command,
did not speak to reporters after the meeting.
-
- Teodosio would not say how many US troops would
participate
in the operation or why the dispute arose.
-
- The Pentagon earlier said it would send about 600,
including
at least 160 Special Forces troops who would join Filipino troops in combat
missions in nearby island strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf.
-
- But the largest US military deployments abroad since
the start of the ongoing campaign in Afghanistan gathered pace here Tuesday
with the arrival of more military equipment and personnel.
-
- Filipino troops are taking elaborate steps to ensure
the safety of about 100 American soldiers now in this southern port city.
Most of them are involved in logistics and communications.
-
- There have been fears that the Abu Sayyaf, which holds
hostage two American missionaries in nearby Basilan island, could launch
pre-emptive attacks.
-
- US military spokeswoman Major Cynthia Teramae said at
a news conference here that "for force protection reasons" she
could not say whether there were specific threats against the American
soldiers.
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- The Abu Sayyaf operates in small, forested, and mainly
Muslim-populated islands around the southern port city of Zamboanga. These
include Basilan, an island about the size of Los Angeles.
-
- Abu Sayyaf has been linked to Saudi militant Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11 terror attacks in
the United States.
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