GIs ring Southcom hospital

American troops stood guard over the Camp Navarro hospital at the Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters where Gracia Burnham was taken following yesterday’s bloody rescue that killed her husband Martin and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

Two Huey helicopters airlifted the wounded Gracia and the body of Martin to the Camp Navarro hospital. Late last night, Gracia was airlifted to an undisclosed destination in Metro Manila.

On Feb. 15, a 1,000-strong contingent of US troops participating in the Balikatan military exercises were dispatched to Basilan province to support and advise 6,000 Philippine troops pursuing the Abu Sayyaf.

Two US Army MH-47 Chinook and two Black Hawk helicopters are providing humanitarian and relief support to Philippine troops in the Sibuco-Siraway area by transporting food and medical supplies, Phi-lippine military officials said.

About 160 elite US Special Forces troops and more than 300 military engineers are in Basilan.

The US troops participating in the Balikatan 02-1 joint military exercises have lent their Filipino counterparts high-tech equipment such as spy planes and satellite communications facilities to help Filipino soldiers track down the bandits and the hostages.

Two US Pave Hawk helicopters reportedly traded gunfire with suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels on Basilan in late May, but a spokesman for the US forces involved in the exercise dismissed the incident as part of the maneuvers.

Since January this year when Balikatan started, about 1,000 Green Berets, military engineers, and support staff have been involved in training local troops to better fight the rebels and help in the rescue of the hostages.

The Abu Sayyaf is linked by Philippine and US governments to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, suspected to be the mastermind in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. — With reports from Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez, Roel Pareño