Manila, US war games deal with maritime threats

MANILA, Feb 19 (Reuters) The United States and the Philippines began annual war games today with the focus this year on maritime threats including piracy, hijackings at sea and cross-border terror.

Scenarios played out could include something similar to the plot line of British author Frederick Forsyth's thriller ''The Afghan'', in which a a gas tanker is taken over by Islamic militants, and the ship is turned into a floating bomb aimed at attacking a G-8 summit in the Atlantic.

''This is the first time that we'll have this type of maritime scenario,'' Major-General Stephen Tom, commander of 400 US special forces taking part in the annual ''Balikatan'' (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises in the southern Philippines.

''We'll make sure both sides practice their techniques and procedures so if the crisis becomes so real, they will be able to operate effectively.'' His Philippine counterpart, Rear Admiral Amable Tolentino, said measures will be developed to counter maritime threats such as piracy and smuggling of weapons, drugs and Islamic militants across the country's porous borders with Malaysia and Indonesia.

COMBINED PLAN ''If we combine our knowledge and doctrines, then we could come up with a combined plan to deal with any specific maritime threats,'' Tolentino told a news conference at the main military camp in Manila.

About 130 military planners, including navy commanders, would take part in tabletop exercises to test how the two sides would react to several maritime threat scenarios in the region.

Captain Steven Ducusin, a Philippine army spokesman, said navy officials from Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia had been invited to the war games. Philippine coast guard and maritime police units were also expected to take part.

Tolentino said there would be no actual military exercises on the ground, but nearly 1,500 Filipino and US troops would carry out humanitarian activities in 13 Muslim communities across Mindanao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi areas in the south.

About 700 Philippine troops would guard 400 US troops and an equal number of Filipino soldiers building roads and repairing clinics on Jolo island, the bastion of Abu Sayyaf militants.

Hundreds of US troops had been deployed in the Philippine south since 2002, helping train and advise local troops in the fight against radical Muslim militants blamed for bomb attacks in Manila and several urban centres in the south.

Reuters SP DB1156