U.S. to help Manila tackle bin Laden-linked group
U.S. to help Manila tackle bin Laden-linked group
Agencies Manila
The United States will send military officers to the Philippines this month to help crack down on Muslim guerrillas linked to Osama bin Laden, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said on Friday.
The self-styled Abu Sayyaf rebels, who Washington has said are linked to bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, executed an American tourist they kidnapped in May and are holding a U.S. couple seized in the same raid on a southern tourist resort.
The U.S. team of 15 or 16 officials, including military officers, would be in the Philippines by the end of the month, Reyes told foreign correspondents.
They would provide advice on combating the Abu Sayyaf and the two sides would also discuss coordination and cooperation in the global fight against terrorism.
"This (team) would contain people that could cooperate, coordinate with us on the military side of it, on how to handle the legal activity, perhaps, the financial aspect...the information sharing," Reyes said.
The predominantly Catholic Philippines was a U.S. colony and the two countries have enjoyed close relations for decades.
The U.S. team was expected to visit Basilan, a remote Philippine island 900 km south of Manila, where the Abu Sayyaf have been holding American and Filipino hostages for months.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila said on Friday remains found on a southern Philippine island last week were those of a Californian tourist killed by the rebels in June.
A Filipino hostage who escaped from the guerrillas said two other Americans, missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham, kidnapped along with Guillermo Sobero, were still alive.
"The United States has two remaining hostages in the Philippines and they are naturally concerned about terrorism in the Philippines and the safe recovery of the Americans," Reyes said.
Reyes said the Philippines had not asked for additional military equipment from the United States and did not see any need for U.S. troops to join the battle against the Abu Sayyaf.
"We don't see that happening...the Armed Forces of the Philippines can handle the situation ourselves," he said.
Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao in a statement also denied the Philippines as being a "major operational hub" of international terrorists.
Philippines President Gloria Arroyo is pushing for a joint anti-terrorism initiative with Indonesia and Malaysia despite differing stances on the U.S. attacks in Afghanistan, her spokesman said on Friday.
Tiglao said she would raise the issue on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Brunei next month as a "trilateral" discussion.
Visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Arroyo on Friday urged fellow Southeast Asian nations to be more active against international terrorism.
The two leaders made the appeal shortly after Thaksin arrived in this country for an overnight visit.