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American philippines joint forces operation { July 23 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/international/asia/23philippines.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/international/asia/23philippines.html
July 23, 2005
U.S. and Philippines Join Forces to Pursue Terrorist Leader
By RAYMOND BONNER and CARLOS H. CONDE
MANILA, July 22 - American and Philippine military forces have launched a joint operation to capture the leader of Abu Sayyaf, a small terrorist group that has kidnapped scores of people and beheaded several, including one American, United States and Philippine military officials said this week.
The operation is in a marshy area on the island of Mindanao, parts of which are controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist group that has been at war with the Philippine government for two decades. Many American officials argue that the Moro group also should be declared a terrorist organization.
In a departure from the past, however, the Moro front is allowing the Philippine Army to operate in the region, since the two sides are now in peace talks, the officials said. More important, a brigade of the group's formidable army is helping to block Abu Sayyaf's possible escape routes, said a Philippine general who played a main role in planning the operation.
The general added, however, that the Moro group was not aware that American forces were involved in the military operation, or else they would probably not have participated. The general agreed to speak about the operation only on the condition that he not be identified because he was disclosing information that neither the United States nor the Philippine governments wanted known publicly.
The current operation to capture the Abu Sayyaf leader, Khaddafy Janjalani, is part of a much larger effort to stop international terrorist organizations from using Mindanao, much of which is covered by dense jungle, for training camps. The Moro group has long denied that it allows terrorist organizations train there.
Al Qaeda and its partner in Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesia-based organization that carried out the attacks on Bali nightclubs that killed more than 200 people in October 2002, started using Mindanao for a training area in the late 1990's.
Philippine military operations to shut down the camps have had only limited success, contrary to the claims of Philippine officials.
Islamic recruits are still coming to Mindanao for training, probably 100 or so a year, American, Australian and Philippine officials said this week. Most of the terrorist recruits are Indonesian, and are being sent by Jemaah Islamiyah, which also attacked the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.
An American military official, speaking on the condition that he not be further identified, said that the United States was providing intelligence and communications support for the current operation to capture Mr. Janjalani, and that there were Navy Seal and Army Special Forces units working in the area with the Filipinos. The American forces would not engage in combat, he said.
The American military has been operating on Mindanao since early 2002, ostensibly as part of training exercises, but there have been numerous reports that American forces have engaged in combat.
Intelligence for this operation and earlier ones is coming from a P3-Orion surveillance aircraft that flies missions from its base in Okinawa, and from small pilotless planes, commonly known as drones, American and Philippine officials said.
The American official said the operation had already pinpointed the location of Mr. Janjalani, and said that he could be captured within weeks.
The United States has offered a $5 million reward for his capture, but similar hopes in the past that he was about to be captured have been dashed. During an attempt in June 2003 to free Gracia and Martin Burnham, American missionaries who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf, Mr. Burnham was killed.
An estimated 80 to 90 American military personnel operate in the southern Philippines, most of them in Army Special Forces units, the American military official said.
Villagers and human rights officials have reported that American troops have engaged in combat operations, and that former American soldiers now working under contract to the Pentagon operate there.
None of these reports have been confirmed, however, and the Pentagon has repeatedly denied that any Americans are engaged in combat in the Philippines.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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