More US troops eyed to confront Philippine militants

[Lex]

More US troops eyed to confront Philippine militants

AFP 
Friday November 10, 11:15 PM     

A senior US official raised the prospect of increasing US military deployments in the southern Philippines to confront Islamic militants who Washington says threaten regional stability.
US Special Forces troops are known to deployed on a rotational basis in the Muslim southwestern portion of the former US colony.
Although the Philippine constitution bars them from actual combat, they have been providing intelligence, equipment, and training to elite troops combatting militant groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and their Jemaah Islamiyah allies from neighboring Indonesia.
"We have a very good pace and rhythm of exercises. I think there may be an opportunity to increase them in the future, but in general were going to continue this focus of cooperating in the way we have been," said John Hillen, visiting assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs.

Hillen spoke to the press after meeting with Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz.
Cruz resigned from the cabinet last Sunday after falling out with colleagues over his opposition to the government's campaign to amend the constitution and shift the system of government from presidential to parliamentary.
He steps down at the end of the month and a replacement has yet to be announced.
The US embassy said Hillen's visit had been planned well before Cruz' resignation.
Hillen is scheduled to visit US troops deployed on Mindanao and Jolo islands on Saturday.
He said the US military presence, along with US aid in the areas of economic development, education, and governance, are "really key to winning the war on terror."
US ambassador Kristie Kenney said the aid program also includes "very basic things" such as teaching Philippine police "how to defuse a bomb, how to detect a bomb, how to train people that work in airports."
Hillen, on the first leg of a five-nation tour, praised the region's governments for "cooperation among the nations of Southeast Asia in dealing with terrorism, whether it's intelligence-sharing, sharing of law enforcement techniques, and learning security cooperation."
He said these were "unprecedented" and made necessary by the realization "that terrorism is a regional problem."
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines including kidnappings and killings of American citizens.
Filipino troops are launching a months-old campaign to flush out Umar Patek and Dulmatin, Jemaah Islamiyah militants believed to be hiding out with an Abu Sayyaf band in Jolo. The two are key suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia.