ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. Special Forces Staff Sgt. Gavin Hutchison from Hawaii, second from right, led Filipino troops as they carried sandbags toward a firing range before live-fire combat exercises in the remote town of Lantawan on Basilan island southern Philippines in April. Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster announced the arrival later this month of about 200 to 300 U.S. soldiers to resume the counterrorism training of Filipino troops.

U.S., Philippine soldiers
set to continue joint exercises

---

By Oliver Teves
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines >> U.S. Special Forces and Air Force instructors are set to resume counterterrorism training of the Philippine military in the south of the country, a U.S. general said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of the Hawaii-based Special Operations Command, said about 200 to 300 U.S. service members will train with six light infantry battalions of the Philippine army and marines starting early next month in southern Zamboanga city.

Philippine air force pilots also will be trained in night operations at an air base on Mactan island in the central Philippines, he said.

"This training is part of our continuing relationship in the war on terror," he told reporters.

On Tuesday, President Bush wrote Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, promising to "continue to provide assistance and training to the armed forces of the Philippines to eliminate with finality the threat from the Abu Sayyaf group and other terrorist elements."

Last year, Wurster led about 1,200 U.S. troops in a six-month Philippines-U.S. counterterrorism military exercise aimed at wiping out the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, which the United States has linked to the al-Qaida terror network.

Philippine Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya said the military has "significantly degraded" the Abu Sayyaf, but added that "there is still so much to be done."

Unlike in last year's military exercise where Green Beret instructors were deployed to nearby Basilan island to conduct the training in actual field conditions, the training this time will be held in a military camp in Zamboanga, Wurster said.