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| Southeast Asia |
| US spy plane recovered in Jolo |
| 2006-02-17 |
| A farmer has gotten a nearly 1,000-dollar reward for turning over an unmanned US aircraft that crashed on an island where al-Qaeda-linked militants are active, US and Philippine officials said Friday. US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mark Zimmer said the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, was used to study the safety of roads and security of troops on Jolo island, where American and Filipino soldiers are preparing for annual military exercises later this month. "The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US very much appreciate the return of the UAV and the continuing cooperation of the people of Jolo," Zimmer said. Cocoy Tulawie, a Jolo council member, said farmers found the plane on Feb. 10 in a coconut field in the island's Indanan town. The farmers speculated it may have crashed after hitting a tree because one wing was slightly damaged, he said. Tulawie said the farmer who returned the plane was paid 50,000 pesos. Earlier this month, Zimmer appealed for the return of the unarmed drone, which he said costs about 35,000 and is "one of the platforms we use to assist the armed forces of the Philippines to help improve their counter-terrorism capabilities." He said the plane went missing in November. The US military has been training and arming Filipino counterinsurgency forces battling al-Qaida-linked militants, including the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group on a US list of terrorist organizations. Some of the 250 US troops participating in the Jolo exercises, called "Balikatan," have begun arriving over the last few weeks. Meanwhile, about 30 US soldiers who took part in another joint military exercise in Carmen town, on nearby Mindanao island, ended their month-long drills Friday and will leave the country in the next few days, Zimmer said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |