Abu Sayyaf

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Thursday to maintain a strong alliance with the Philippines as it fights Islamist militants who officials say are now using Iraq-style tactics. Clinton's two-day visit came amid a backdrop of persistent violence from the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the volatile south of the country, where US Special Forces advisers are helping to train and equip Filipino soldiers. "The United States is committed to a strong partnership and alliance with the Philippines," Clinton told a press conference with her Philippines counterpart Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo. She said the Visiting Forces Agreement, a 1999 treaty governing the ... Read Full Story

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Manila on Thursday in a bid to deepen defence ties with a country fighting Islamist militants who officials say are now using Iraq-style tactics. The two-day visit comes as US Special Forces advisers are in the southern Philippines to train and equip Filipino soldiers in combatting the Abu Sayyaf group that is blamed for the Southeast Asian nation's worst terrorist attacks. Clinton is likely to hear "strong support" from President Gloria Arroyo and her defence officials for the Visiting Forces Agreement, a 1999 treaty which governs the deployment of US troops in the Philippines, Arroyo's aides ... Read Full Story

Gunmen in camouflage stormed a plywood factory and abducted three workers Tuesday, a day after suspected Muslim militants beheaded a kidnapped schoolteacher on a nearby southern Philippine island, officials said. About 20 assailants broke through a wooden fence and took away three men from the factory in coastal Maluso town on Basilan Island, military spokesman Maj. David Hontiveros said. The latest abductions in the restive southern region, where al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants have evaded U.S.-backed Philippine offensives, came as the military promised a swift retaliation for the beheading of a teacher whose family failed to raise ransom money on Jolo Island. The severed head ... Read Full Story

The severed head of a school principal who was abducted by Islamic militants in the troubled southern Philippines was dumped at a petrol station on Monday, authorities said. The head of Gabriel Canizares was found inside a bag at a petrol station on Jolo island at dawn, 22 days after the 36-year-old elementary school headmaster was kidnapped, local police chief inspector Usman Pingay said. His body remains missing, police said. Authorities had previously said militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, snatched Canizares from among a busload of teachers near the Jolo town of Patikul on ... Read Full Story

The severed head of a school principal who was abducted by Islamic militants in the troubled southern Philippines was dumped at a petrol station on Monday, authorities said. The head of Gabriel Canizares was found inside a bag at a petrol station on Jolo island at dawn, 22 days after the 36-year-old elementary school headmaster was kidnapped, local police chief inspector Usman Pingay said. His body remains missing, police said. Authorities had previously said militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, snatched Canizares from among a busload of teachers near the Jolo town of Patikul on ... Read Full Story