Fresh clashes erupt as Arroyo visits Zamboanga
Fresh clashes erupt as Arroyo visits Zamboanga
Agencies, Zamboanga City, Philippines
Fresh fighting flared between Philippine troops and the Abu
Sayyaf guerrillas linked to Osama bin Laden only hours before
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo flew to a nearby city on
Tuesday, officials said.
Arroyo's visit to the largely Christian city of Zamboanga is
coinciding with Philippine-U.S. military exercises aimed at
destroying the Moro Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who are holding a U.S.
missionary couple hostage on nearby Basilan island.
The exercises mark the opening of a second front in the United
States' stepped-up war on terrorism after the rout of the Taliban
regime in Afghanistan.
On the eve of Arroyo's arrival in Zamboanga, 860 km south of
Manila, fresh clashes broke out on Basilan between Philippine
troops and a group of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas trying to flee from
the island.
The guerrillas suffered an undetermined number of casualties
while government forces incurred no losses, military spokesman
Lt. Col. Danilo Servando told reporters.
"They are trying to escape from Basilan because of the
presence of the U.S. forces," Servando said.
As Arroyo landed on an air force base in Zamboanga amid tight
security, about two dozen residents held a protest rally outside
the base to denounce the military exercises involving about 660
U.S. troops and thousands of local soldiers.
Riot police stopped the young protesters near the Edwin
Andrews Air Force Base and confiscated placards and streamers.
They later forced about 50 demonstrators to disperse.
"War is Terrorism. Stop War Now," read one of the placards
held up by one of the protesters. "Bush No. 1 Terrorist," read
another, while a third one read: "Gloria, Lover of Terrorists".
Meanwhile, colleagues of 10 U.S. servicemen killed in a
helicopter crash in the Philippines wept silently on Tuesday as
the local military posthumously honored them for "outstanding
achievement" in the fight against terrorism.
The MH-47E Chinook helicopter with the American soldiers went
down in shark infested waters off the central island of Negros on
Friday.
The bodies of three of the Americans have been recovered while
seven others were presumed dead after two days of futile
searching.
They are among 660 U.S. troops involved in joint operations to
crush al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas notorious for
kidnapping and beheading their victims in the southern
Philippines.
Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said on Tuesday that
Arroyo ordered the release of 200 million pesos (US$4 million)
for equipment for five special anti-kidnapping task forces
deployed around the country after police officials briefed her
Cabinet on continuing cases of abductions.