Philippines To Expand Counter-Terrorism Operations

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The Philippine government is to triple the size of a special forces military unit that operates against Islamist militants responsible for deadly bombings and kidnappings of Westerners.

The Light Reaction Battalion is to be built up to regiment size, Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes said, an increase from about 500 soldiers to as many as 1,500. The unit is fighting the Abu Sayyaf, a group of several hundred Islamist militants who are behind the country’s deadliest attacks as well as kidnappings of Western targets.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the battalion had taken substantial casualties during a three-week battle against gunmen in the southern port of Zamboanga in September last year. According to Defnese News the gunmen are followers of former rebel leader Nur Misuari, who went into hiding as hundreds of his men infiltrated Zamboanga to oppose a proposed peace treaty between the Philippine government and a rival Muslim guerrilla faction.

The fighting left more than 240 people dead and displaced about 116,000 people as entire districts of the city of nearly a million people went up in flames. The United States has trained and equipped the battalion since 2002, to help its Asian ally fight the Islamist militants in the south of the mainly Catholic nation.