Thousands of US, Filipino marines to hold war exercises in Philippines

MANILA (AP) - More than 3,500 U.S. and Philippine marines will launch a two-week war exercise in the northern Philippines this week, with maneuvers including mock beach and artillery assaults, officials said Sunday.

The annual exercises begin on Tuesday and involve combat maneuvers on a Philippine marine base, an army special forces camp and an air force gunnery area on northern Luzon island, local navy spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan said.

He said no exercises were scheduled in the southern Mindanao region, where a small U.S. military contingent has separately provided counterterrorism training and weapons to troops battling al-Qaida-linked militants since 2002.

The Philippines holds several military exercises each year with the U.S, its longtime ally, under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and two other security accords.

A U.S. Embassy statement said American marines from Okinawa in Japan and U.S. sailors from the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group will join in the ground, air and naval drills - called Talon Vision and Amphibious Landing Exercise - to train the allied forces to jointly operate in combat.

About 2,700 American Marines are expected to join the exercises, along with about 800 Filipino marines, Caculitan said.