-Caveat Lector- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020201/wl/philippines_us_troops_7.html
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Friday February 1 3:21 PM ET Five Guerrillas Killed in Philippines By ADAM BROWN, Associated Press Writer ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) - At least five Muslim guerrillas were killed Friday in a battle with Philippine troops on Basilan island, where two Americans and a Filipino nurse are being held hostage, a Philippine military commander said. The firefight came a day after the Philippines and the United States opened a training exercise aimed at wiping out the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who have been linked to the al-Qaida terror network. In Manila, meanwhile, two lawyers asked the Supreme Court to stop the exercise, arguing a bilateral agreement contains no provision allowing U.S. troops to be deployed ``in a war zone area'' like Basilan. Philippine soldiers engaged about 20 guerrillas in a 15-minute gunfight around Maluso town on Basilan island near Zamboanga, Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu said. ``I would say that this group is the blocking force of the main Abu Sayyaf group that is holding the hostages,'' Cimatu said. ``If it is ... probably we will have some positive developments in the near future.'' Troops recovered the body of one guerrilla, five assault rifles, personal belongings and ammunition in the village of Las Poler. The remaining guerrillas were being pursued by the marines, who suffered no injuries, Cimatu said. ``We have destroyed their perimeter defense ... (while) degrading their capability in terms of strength and firepower,'' he said. The guerrillas have eluded about 7,000 soldiers deployed to Basilan since an Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree began in May. The guerrillas still hold Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan., and nurse Deborah Yap of Basilan. On Thursday, U.S. troops began a six-month training exercise for Filipino soldiers that U.S. charge d'affaires Robert Fitts said will ``help eliminate the terrorist parasites'' threatening both countries. The exercise will involve 660 U.S. soldiers, including 160 special forces troops deployed among Philippine marine and army battalions on Basilan. Some special forces may accompany Filipino soldiers into combat zones. They are authorized to shoot in self-defense. But opposition politicians say the mission violates a Philippine constitutional clause restricting foreign combat troops on sovereign soil. In their petition to the Supreme Court, lawyers Arthur Lim, former national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and Paulino Ersando said the bilateral agreement contains no provision allowing U.S. troops to train, advise or chaperone Filipino troops ``in a war zone area like the one in Basilan.'' The agreement also does not allow American soldiers to fire back, the petition said. ``To unleash American GIs to subdue (the Abu Sayyaf), even under the cover of expanding the U.S.-led war against global terror, is not only an unmitigated insult against the Filipino soldier, but a negation of our self-respect as a people and a mockery of the Philippine Constitution,'' it added. More than 100 U.S. soldiers already are in Zamboanga. Others will arrive in coming weeks. Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in neighboring Malaysia on Thursday that the Philippine government told him the mission's objective was to destroy the Abu Sayyaf. ``They are very much looking to identify, surround and capture the group,'' the Malaysian national news agency Bernama quoted Blair as saying. ``I think we are working together to capture these international criminals and not simply dump our problem on our neighbor.'' FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert S. Mueller acknowledged Thursday for the first time that some of the planning for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States occurred in Malaysia. ``We believe there was planning in Germany and Malaysia and perhaps in other countries,'' Mueller told reporters in Washington. He declined to offer detail or to specify which other countries. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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