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Philippine Troops Bomb Muslim Rebel Hideouts
Tuesday, July 2, 2002
The Tehran Times

The U.S. military presence in the southern Philippines is Washington's biggest troop deployment after Afghanistan in its war on terror.

ZAMBOANGA, The Philippines -- TT
Government forces using bomber planes and helicopters attacked suspected Muslim rebel positions in the southern philippines on Monday, inflicting an undetermined number of casualties, the military said.

The military said the attack on Jolo Island was launched after Abu Sayyaf guerrillas unleashed rockets at soldiers pursuing the group, linked by the United States to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

"One of our troops was wounded but they believe the Abu Sayyaf suffered undetermined number of casualties," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Fredesvindo Covarrubias said.

Government forces have been tracking a band of about 150 suspected Abu Sayyaf since Friday after overrunning four guerrilla camps in the jungle-clad island regarded as an Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

The United States has deployed about 1,000 troops in the
southern Philippines to train Filipino soldiers in counter terrorism to combat the Abu Sayyaf, which has waged a decade-long violent campaign in the name of creating a separate Muslim homeland in the south of the predominantly catholic country.
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Dan