U.S. pulls out troops from Philippine project site

Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:34am EDT

MANILA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The United States pulled out its servicemen from a project site on a remote island in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, a day after two navy engineers were killed in a landmine attack.

The Philippines, meanwhile, deployed fresh troops on the island of Jolo, said Lieutenant-General Ben Mohammad Dolorfino, commander of military forces in the western Mindanao region.

"We've augmented our troops on Jolo to strengthen our defences," Dolorfino said, adding they were sent to guard U.S.-funded infrastructure projects on the island.

"As a security precaution, the U.S. authorities have pulled out their engineers from a construction site near Indanan town," he added.

The two U.S. servicemen, both Navy Seabees, and a Filipino marine were killed when returning from the site on Tuesday.

The military blamed militants of the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist group linked to al Qaeda, for the attack that also wounded two other Filipino marines.

"It was a retaliatory attack for the loss of their main base near Indanan town," Dolorfino said. Jolo is one of the strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf, the smallest but deadliest of the Islamist militant groups in the Philippines.

U.S. troops are deployed in the Philippines under the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries. On Tuesday, the Philippine Senate sent a non-binding resolution to the government calling for its re-negotiation. [ID:nMAN501755]

Senators led by Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a political ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, argued the agreement was a one-sided deal in favour of Washington. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)





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