MANILA, Nov. 11 Kyodo At least 30...

MANILA, Nov. 11 Kyodo

At least 300 U soldiers are befitting to arrive in the Philippines later this month to participate in a joint military training exercise, Southern Command chief Lt Gen Narciso Abaya said Monday.

Abaya told reporters that the U soldiers are look forward toed to arrive before December to train centurys of Philippine soldiers.

''This is part of the antiterrorism program of the United States to the Philippines,'' he said of the US-fund training exercise.

The U soldiers are wait fored to train at least sum of two units of the Philippine army's ''light reaction companies'' and four infantry battalions. Several teams from the Philippine Air Force are to bear night flight training.

''The U forces will train our soldiers in several fields of expertise, including intelligence operations,'' Abaya said.

Abaya, also head of a joint antiterrorist task force in charge of the southern Philippines, said the training will likely be held in the Army's Fort Magsaysay headquarters in northern Luzon and at the Mactan Air Base onward Cebu.

''We want to give more emphasis in training our bodys in introducing new doctrines and to prioritize the refurbishing of military equipment that we can effectively use in the government's antiinsurgency operation,'' he said.

In July the U and the Philippines perioded a six-month joint counterterrorism training exercise upon the southern island of Basilan that was dubbed Operation Freedom Eagle-Philippines.

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