No U.S. troops will be allowed to fight in Philippines

Associated Press WriterMANILA, Philippines (AP) -- No U.S. ground troops will be allowed to take part in any counter-terrorist operation in the Philippines, a top security official said Wednesday in response to reports that the country may be one area where the United States wants to expand its fight against terrorism.

Instead of ground troops, the United States was to provide intelligence, training and equipment to help fight Islamic militants in the Philippines, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said.

"We would like to state that there is no possibility that the Americans could be conducting covert and overt military action using their own troops," Golez said.

Golez was reacting to a New York Times report quoting unidentified U.S. officials who said terrorists with links to Osama bin Laden in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are among the likely targets of future covert and overt American actions.

The report also said the Philippines has become a major operational hub for terrorists, adding that people linked to bin Laden -- the principal suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States -- are in Manila and elsewhere in the country.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Washington may target countries other than Afghanistan to root out terrorist groups.

"We may find that our self-defense requires further actions with respect to other organizations and other states," he said without specifying any nations.

The Philippines, though predominantly Catholic, has a minority of Muslims living in the southern Mindanao region. The country's most extremist guerrilla group, the Abu Sayyaf, claims it is fighting for an independent Islamic state. Abu Sayyaf is believed to have links to bin Laden.

Outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, some 200 Muslims and left-wing activists denounced the U.S.-led strikes on the Taliban in Afghanistan for sheltering bin Laden. Protesters burned an American flag and calling for a holy war Wednesday. Another group released doves.

Golez said operations against terrorist groups, particularly the Abu Sayyaf, would involve "exclusively Filipino" troops. "But the Americans shall help by way of extending to us additional special equipment, additional training and probably a sharing of intelligence information," he said.

Last year, the Abu Sayyaf abducted 21 people from a Malaysian resort, holding them for months before finally releasing all but one in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom.

In May, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos in the Philippines. Soldiers recovered remains believed to be those of Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif. Two other Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham of Kansas, and 16 Filipinos remain captive.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, was organized in the early 1990s by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.

Philippine officials say Janjalani, who was killed in a police raid in 1998, was among Filipino Muslims who joined Islamic fighters in Afghanistan, where he was believed to have established contact with bin Laden. His brother, Khadaffy, now leads the group.