US Special Forces going to combat ?

US Special Forces will join next week their Filipino counterparts in combat patrols in the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan, Philippine military officials said yesterday.

They clarified, however, that the Americans’ participation would be limited to "field training exercises" and would not engage in actual fighting, although they are allowed to fire back in self-defense.

"Their special forces and our special forces will conduct social operations training activity," said Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City.

About 160 members of the US Special Forces, divided into teams of 12 men each, are deployed with nine AFP battalions involved in the joint RP-US military exercise in Basilan dubbed "Balikatan 02-1."

The maneuvers are being held in Basilan where Abu Sayyaf terrorists have been holding hostage an American missionary couple and a Filipina nurse for nine months now.

Maj. Cynthia Teramae, spokeswoman for US Special Operations Command Joint Task Force 510, said the Green Beret troops would switch to Black Beret as ordered by Gen. Erik Shinseki, chief of staff of the US Army.

"The beret is used outside the field condition. So normally, you will see all our armies in the black beret here. But it would be now the traditional headgear that symbolizes the professionalism in the US army," Teramae said.

The AFP has tightened security pertaining to media coverage of the war games following leakage of surveillance photos and images of Abu Sayyaf lairs.

Meanwhile, military and police intelligence agents strengthened their monitoring of the possible arrival in Zamboanga City of Abu Sayyaf bandits fleeing Basilan.

Servando said undercover agents have been deployed in the city’s harbors to apprehend Abu Sayyaf leaders and followers seeking refuge in the city to avoid the heat in Basilan.

An Abu Sayyaf bandit identified as Munib Assa, alias Ghalib Hassan, who had a P1-million bounty on his head, was captured on Tuesday in a Muslim community in the city.

"They are following some leads on other members of the Abu Sayyaf who have been monitored to have fled (Basilan)," Servando said.

However, it could not be ascertained if Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya, Abu Sayyaf chieftain and spokesman, respectively, have left Basilan as there were conflicting intelligence reports on their whereabouts.

"They are still in Basilan," Servando said, brushing aside reports that the two Abu Sayyaf leaders had fled to nearby Tawi-Tawi or Sabah in Malaysia.

"All these information keep coming and they are immediately being verified. But there is no confirmation and no independent source has confirmed that they have sighted them," AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said.

"Our hunt for them continues and the American equipment is helping greatly and now their hiding place is getting smaller and smaller," Adan added.

The Americans’ presence in Basilan, with support units on standby in nearby Zamboanga City and Cebu City, is perceived as the second largest US troop deployment against global terrorism, next to Afghanistan.

Washington has included the Abu Sayyaf in its list of global terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.

In another development, members of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and other militant labor groups stormed the US Embassy in Manila to protest the continuation of the Balikatan.

"Workers now have more compelling and fortified reasons to oppose the Balikatan. With the US military’s admission that the Balikatan is a local version of Operation Enduring Freedom, there’s no doubt that military operations in Mindanao would soon escalate into a full-blown war of aggression on a nationwide level," the KMU said. — Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Sandy Araneta, AFP