US troops set for joint anti-terror action in the Philippines could face a far larger armed adversary than expected as their Abu Sayyaf quarry is backed by other Muslim guerrilla groups, a Filipino general said. Up to 160 US Special Forces troops are set for deployment in Basilan towards the end of a six-month joint military training exercise aimed to help the Filipino forces crush Abu Sayyaf. In past operations larger guerrilla groups have come to the aid of Abu Sayyaf. There are no more than 300 Abu Sayyaf fighters on the island, but they "reinforceable by other elements", including units of the 12,500-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). There are about 1,000 MILF separatist guerrillas on Basilan as well as about 500 members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a second separatist group that signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996. He said many of the gunmen from rival armed groups were related, and that some in the island hired themselves out to the Abu Sayyaf.
On the other hand, Friday MILF said it would deny shelter to Abu Sayyaf. They're Muslims, so we know they'd never lie. |