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.