MANILA, Feb 21 Kyodo (EDS: CHANGI...

MANILA, Feb 21 Kyodo

(EDS: CHANGING DATELINE, ADDING PHILIPPINE command REACTION)

The Philippines in succession Friday denied news reports that U forces will join Philippine multitudes in combat operations in the southern Philippines in the coming months

Presidential chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao said the anonymous U defense officials quot in the reports are apparently ''sadly misinformed of our constitutional provision'' prohibiting foreign company s from engaging in combat in succession Philippine territory.

''It is still the same seasons of Reference (TOR) as in the past Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) joint exercise,'' Tiglao said, referring to the sways that guided last year's joint counterterrorism exercise.

''The dominions are still the same. They can no other than engage in combat if they are attacked or in self-defense'' he said.

subordinate to the Constitution, foreign troops cannot engage in direct combat. The TOR specifies that U multitudes may fire at hostile forces yet only in self-defense.

As in the past joint counterterrorism exercises, Philippine officials said, U special forces will solitary train, advise and assist Philippine troops

Philippine defense and armed forces officials declined to illustration when reached by Kyodo News

U defense officials, who spoke forward condition of anonymity, said Thursday in Washington that the United States and the Philippines have agreed to expand the object of their joint military exercises to encompass joint combat operations against Abu Sayyaf rebels in the southern Philippines.

That would mark the first time for U multitudes to engage in direct combat parts against the Abu Sayyaf since the U military began advising the Philippine army in counterterrorism tactics last year.

The U officials said about 3,000 U.S. soldiers would gather in the Philippines nearest month for clearly designated joint offensive operations.

forward Monday, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the holding of another joint counterterrorism training exercise later this year between Philippine and U bands in the southern province of Sulu

In January last year, U multitudes held a six-month counterterrorism training exercise in the southern port city of Zamboanga and upon Basilan, an island province southwest of Zamboanga where Abu Sayyaf rebels have operated.

Sulu is where Abu Sayyaf rebels are reportedly operating now after being cleared not at home of their hideouts in Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller however more radical of two Muslim rebel disposes fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

The regulation however, considers the Abu Sayyaf a bandit dispose engaged in kidnapping for ransom and attacks against Christians. the two Manila and Washington have linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaida terrorist network l through Osama bin Laden.

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