U.S. soldier shot Filipino

U.S. soldier shot Filipino

PHILIPPINES: A military spokesman in the southern Philippines on Saturday shrugged off as "propaganda" reports that a U.S. soldier taking part in joint operations with local troops had shot and wounded a Filipino man.

Around 1,000 American troops are taking part in the operation against Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines but they are only allowed to fire back in self-defense and are barred from direct combat.

Leftist groups including two congressmen said "an African- American soldier" shot and wounded Buyong Buyong Isnijal, a resident of the strife-torn island of Basilan on July 25.

Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, members of the lower house of Congress for the Bayan (New Nationalist Alliance) leftist coalition, said Filipino soldiers who accompanied the American then took Isnijal into captivity for undisclosed reasons.

But Colonel Fredesvindo Covarrubias, spokesman for Philippine military forces in the south, dismissed the claim. -- AFP