U.S. to help crackdown Abu Sayyaf

U.S. to help crackdown Abu Sayyaf

PHILIPPINES: The United States is sending military officers to
the Philippines to train and equip local troops in the war
against guerrillas linked to Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, a
top Manila official said on Wednesday.

But the U.S. officers, to be led by an army general and
numbering more than two dozen, will not take part in the fighting
against the guerrillas holding two Americans and 16 Filipinos in
the southern Philippines, national security adviser Roilo Golez
told reporters.

Golez ruled out any direct involvement of U.S. forces in
Manila's campaign to subdue the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, saying the
stationing of foreign troops in the country was prohibited by the
Philippine constitution.

Golez made the statement in reaction to what he said were U.S.
media reports that extremists tied to the Saudi-born bin Laden
and based in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia were among
likely targets of future U.S. military action. --Reuters