The United States and the Philippines today began joint military exercises to combat Muslim extremism in the south of the Philippines as part of America's war on terror.
A ceremony was held amid heavy security, with intelligence reports saying some groups might try to disrupt the controversial exercises.
Senior officers from the two nations presided over the formal opening at the heavily guarded headquarters of the southern Philippine military command in Zamboanga city.
Nearby is Basilan island, where Abu Sayyaf guerrillas have been holding a US missio nary couple and a Filipina nurse hostage for over eight months.
The United States has listed the Abu Sayyaf as among groups allied with Saudi-born dissident bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, accused of masterminding the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
About 600 US soldiers, from the American mainland and from US bases in the Pacific, are to take part in the planned six-month exercises.
The schedule calls for about 160 US Special Forces to join Philippine troops on training patrols in the jungle of Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf stronghold and a largely Muslim island about three times the size of Singapore.