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ZAMBOANGA (AFP) - Three US navy ships arrived off the southern Philippines on Wednesday for joint military exercises in an area threatened by Muslim militants, officials said.

The ships were anchored amid tight security off the southern city of Zamboanga, a frequent target of bombings by Islamic militants.

More than a thousand US serviceman are taking part in the exercise in Zamboanga and the nearby island of Basilan where the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic militant group linked to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, is active.

US speedboats patrolled the waters around the three ships to ensure local boats maintained their distance.

The ships arrived ahead of the opening on Thursday of the week-long Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise between the United States and Southeast Asian countries.

"We are not here as any type of display of force or anything like that," Lieutenant Commander Billy Ray Davis, spokesman of the US naval delegation, told reporters.

"This is just a training exercise. (The) majority of the program is sea related exercise with shore coordinated action plans and civic military projects."

However, he said the exercises should help improve the capability of the Philippine navy in securing the waterways of the south.

Small numbers of US military advisers are already operating in Zamboanga City and Basilan, providing intelligence and training to Filipino troops conducting a sweep for Abu Sayyaf units.

Two American civilians were kidnapped and later killed by the Abu Sayyaf in 2001, while in 2002 a US military adviser was killed by a bomb planted by the Abu Sayyaf in a Zamboanga bar.