‘Sulu will not be battlefield in global war vs terrorism’

President Arroyo dismissed suggestions yesterday that the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Sulu will be the next "battlefront" for the US-led global war on terrorism.

American troops to be deployed in Sulu later this year will only be engaged in training their local counterparts as well carrying out civil projects, Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement.

"There is no sense in speculations that Sulu will be a new battlefront involving US troops," Mrs. Arroyo said, dismissing claims by leftist groups. "American troops will not land and shoot."

The US deployment is part of this year’s joint military exercises, dubbed "Balikatan" (Shoulder-to-Shoulder), which are held annually.

Mrs. Arroyo stressed US troops will also be barred from actual combat against the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic kidnap gang both governments have linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden and blamed for the murder of two American hostages seized in 2001.

"They will not even accompany our troops on the battleground," she said earlier.

Abu Sayyaf rebels "are already on the run and our troops are already winning the fight," Mrs. Arroyo said, adding that the deployment is "not a scenario being forced upon the people" of predominantly Muslim Sulu.

"We will continue to step up our efforts against all terrorist groups. And as far as the Abu Sayyaf and other terrorist groups that we have to fight, the US will provide assistance in terms of anti-terrorism training," she said.

Two women held hostage since August last year by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu escaped from their captors last Friday. The bandits are still holding two other women hostage, who have been the subject of an ongoing military rescue operation.

The Sulu operations, expected to begin in the middle of the year, would be the second installment of US military assistance in the government’s war against the Abu Sayyaf.

Several hundred US Special Forces troops advised Filipino troops going after the Abu Sayyaf on the southern Philippine island of Basilan last year, resulting in the crippling of Abu Sayyaf forces there and aiding in the capture and death of some members and leaders.

Many of the fighters in Basilan, estimated at about 300, have fled to Sulu.

Officials earlier said that aside from Sulu, US troops would also deploy in other areas of the south, including the Zamboanga peninsula on the main southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

In a recent speech, Mrs. Arroyo said "Sulu is strategically important and that is why Balikatan will partly be held there."