Marines get anti-Al Qaida drill in Philippines

Manila: Thousands of US troops have started war drills with Philippine soldiers as a series of bombings by Al Qaida-linked militants hit the country, officials said on Monday.

The country has become a crucial front in the US-led campaign against terrrorism because of the reported presence of Al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah's training camps.

In an exercise on Sunday, Philippine troops watched US Marines aboard CH-53 helicopters insert a team to capture a high-value individual hiding in a building. Other exercises included live-fire drills and anti-terror combat.

"What we try to do here is make the training as realistic as possible," said US Marine Sgt. Levi Konz, a Special Operations Training Group instructor.

On Sunday, a small bomb explosion at a police camp on Jolo island wounded two people, and troops dismantled another explosive device just hours before it was timed to go off.