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ZAMBOANGA: The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike
Mullen, made a brief surprise visit to strife-torn Mindanao on
Sunday, military sources and witnesses said.
Mullen arrived in the city of Zamboanga aboard a
US C-17 transport plane accompanied by Philippine military chief
Lieutenant General Alexander Yano and US Ambassador Kristie Kenney.
Mullen’s visit to the Edwin Andrews air base
came just three days after a bomb planted by suspected terrorists
exploded outside a US aid project office near the base, killing two
people and injuring 21 others.
He met with local military commanders and some
of the 300 US troops posted in Mindanao to train local forces
hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, the sources and witnesses said, before
flying to Manila for further talks.
Local military spokesmen would not comment on
the admiral’s visit, which was not previously announced.
Zamboanga has been the target of numerous bomb
attacks in recent years carried out by criminal gangs or Muslim
extremist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to
the al-Qaeda terror network.
US forces are strictly barred from taking part
in combat in Mindano
.
-- AFP
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