PHILIPPINES: HUNDREDS OF U.S. MARINES LAND IN FORMER U.S. NAVY BASE FOR COMBAT EXERCISES WITH FILIPINO TROOPS
Record ID:
646961
PHILIPPINES: HUNDREDS OF U.S. MARINES LAND IN FORMER U.S. NAVY BASE FOR COMBAT EXERCISES WITH FILIPINO TROOPS
- Title: PHILIPPINES: HUNDREDS OF U.S. MARINES LAND IN FORMER U.S. NAVY BASE FOR COMBAT EXERCISES WITH FILIPINO TROOPS
- Date: 13th October 2002
- Summary: (W3) SUBIC, PHILIPPINES (OCTOBER 13, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV HUNDREDS OF U.S. TROOPS DISEMBARKING (5 SHOTS) 0.54 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PERRINE SAYING "We are approximately eight hundred United States marines here, they will be operating with similar AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) force and will be doing ground and air training exercise as a gate exercise. So we will be training with Filipino air forces as well as Filipino land forces. The Philippines are wanting to focus on rapid deployment force so we hope to get air and ground integrated training and it will be a great opportunity for us to train in an environment we are not used to." 1.23 3. SLV ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER BEING UNLOADED (2 SHOTS) 1.46 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PERRINE SAYING "I will not go into specifics of our security measures but we always take security seriously no matter where we are and constantly assess the situation and we'll take the measures necessary to maintain security." 1.59 5. SLV TROOPS BOARDING BUSES; SLV BUSES DEPARTING (9 SHOTS) 3.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th October 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SUBIC, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVAMTAP61HKHGYXKQ0I9KOAK41Z
- Story Text: Hundreds of American marines have landed in a former
U.S. navy base in the Philippines for combat exercises with
Filipino troops amid an intensified campaign by the United
States against terror.
Their arrival comes amid a deadly bomb blast in the resort
town of Bali in neighbouring Jakarta, which has killed at
least 182 people, mostly foreigners.
The two-week-long exercises, to be held on the main
Philippine island of Luzon, coincided with renewed attacks by
Muslim and communist guerrilla groups against military and
civilian targets in the country and incidents elsewhere in the
region.
On Saturday (October 12) evening, a suspected home-made
bomb had exploded in the front yard of the Philippines
consulate in the Indonesian city of Manado, causing some
damage but no casualties in the attack officials blamed on
terrorists.
In Indonesia, three almost simultaneous bomb blasts in the
resort island of Bali had left close to 182 people, mostly
foreigners, dead early on Sunday (October 13).
"We are approximately 800 United States marines here, they
will be operating with similar AFP (Armed Forces of the
Philippines) force and will be doing ground and air training
exercise as a gate exercise. So we will be training with
Filipino air forces as well as Filipino land forces. The
Philippines are wanting to focus on rapid deployment force so
we hope to get air and ground integrated training and it will
be a great opportunity for us to train in an environment we
are not used to," said U.S. military spokesman Captain
Christopher Perrine.
He added security measures will be in place for the U.S.
troops during the exercise, after the bomb blasts this
weekend.
"I will not go into specifics of our security measures but
we always take security seriously no matter where we are and
constantly assess the situation and we'll take the measures
necessary to maintain security," he said.
More than 1,000 U.S. troops also recently held training
exercises with Philippine soldiers in the country's south
aimed at upgrading Filipinos' skills in fighting the Muslim
Abu
Sayyaf guerrillas.
Washington has linked the Abu Sayyaf to Osama bin Laden's
al Qaeda network, alleged mastermind of last year's September
11 attacks on New York and Washington.
A U.S. military statement said the new exercises were "not
directly connected to any previous exercises or current events
in the Philippines."
Two of several groups battling the Philippine military --
the Abu Sayyaf and the communist New People's Army (NPA) --
have been blacklisted by the United States as "foreign
terrorist organisations."
The U.S. marines arrived a day after the Abu Sayyaf killed
11 Philippine soldiers and wounded 26 others on Jolo island,
in the heaviest fighting in recent months in the country's
south.
In early October, a U.S. soldier and two Filipino
civilians were killed and more than 20 injured in a bomb
attack in southern Zamboanga city, which the military also
blamed on the
Abu Sayyaf.
The leftist NPA has also stepped up its offensive in
recent weeks, attacking police stations in two provinces and
stealing dozens of rifles from their armoires.
The Abu Sayyaf claims to fight for an Islamic homeland in
the south of the mainly Catholic country but engages mainly in
kidnap for ransom activities.
The group is holding three Indonesian seamen and four
Filipino women Christian evangelists hostage on Jolo, 960 km
(600 miles) south of Manila.
The NPA has been fighting for a Marxist state for more
than three decades and operates both in the north and south of
the country.
About 800 U.S. marines from Okinawa will take part in the
new exercises in several Luzon provinces in the north of the
country.
The exercises will formerly start on Monday and include
training in artillery firing, aerial bombing of ground targets
and jungle survival, U.S. military officials said.
Subic Bay was the site of a major American naval base
until Washington closed it down in 1992 after the Philippine
Senate rejected a new military bases treaty with the United
States.
Manila is a chief supporter of the U.S. war against terror
and is linked to Washington by a mutual defence pact.
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