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Three US warships have been deployed in Western Mindanao to join the 10-day joint naval exercises of Filipino and American troops that will start next week and will focus on operations against terrorists and criminals operating in the region.

The latest RP-US military exercises dubbed as “Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT)” will be conducted in the Zamboanga and Basilan area beginning on May 31 to June 9, the US Embassy in Manila announced yesterday.

The Philippine Navy will deploy four patrol boats with 600 marines and Navy personnel on board the BRP Artemio Ricarte, BRP Gen. Mariano Alvarez, BRP Bagobo and BRP Quezon.

The US Navy’s CARAT group is composed of the USS Harpers Ferry from Sasebo, Japan; the USS Ford from Everett, Washington, and the USS Jarrett from San Diego, California. Some 1,400 US troops will take part in the CARAT exercises, including US Navy Seabees, US Navy and Army doctors.

The embassy said Philippine and US naval units will participate in the amphibious military exercise, the 13th annual bilateral training exercise of the two countries.

CARAT 2007 is a combined naval tactical operations exercise involving fleet forces that also participates in other joint exercises with six Southeast Asian nations - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

Military officials said that the joint naval exercises are intended to improve cooperation and exchange of information between Filipino and US troops to enhance the ability of the two naval forces to conduct maritime operations that include emergency measures during natural disasters and interception of criminals and terrorists. – With Renee Puno, AFP, Reuters