US troops return to Hawaii after stint in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – About 30 troops from the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team returned Wednesday (Thursday in the Philippines) from a six-month tour in Sulu province in the southern Philippines. The soldiers arrived at Hickam Air Force Base and were reunited with their families at Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu in Hawaii, according to a report by the Honolulu Advertiser on its website. It said the soldiers served with the Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines, which provides security for humanitarian projects such as engineering, medical support and community outreach efforts in Sulu. They also served as advisers to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Last year, Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a Philippine and US military convoy in Sulu’s Patikul town near a military base and killing four Filipino marines and wounded 10 others. Guam media reported that the Guam Army National Guard confirmed that a local serviceman was unharmed following the attack on his unit. The US soldier was not identified, but the Guam Army National Guard said the serviceman is attached to a platoon with the 294th Infantry Regiment deployed in Sulu to aide in the ongoing conflict there. The Philippine military and the US Embassy in Manila insisted no US soldiers were in the attacked convoy. Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban, commander of the Filipino Joint Task Force Comet in Sulu Island, said no US soldiers were in the convoy, but some of them aided the local troops wounded in the ambush. "He was inside the camp. Maybe he got so excited that he thought that he was part of the ambush. The only elements ambushed were the first two vehicles. Yes, they were there because we are partners in humanitarian assistance project and they just turned over a school a few hundred meters away from the ambush site," Sabban said in a television interview, referring to US troops. Rebecca Thompson, a US embassy spokesperson, also denied that American soldiers were near the ambush site, but admitted they helped evacuate wounded Filipino troops to safety. American troops are training and assisting local soldiers in defeating terrorism in the troubled South on the request of the Philippine government. The Abu Sayyaf is holding two foreign Red Cross workers – Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni - kidnapped in Sulu on January 15 after inspecting a humanitarian project at a prison in Patikul town. A third hostage, Filipino Mary jean Lacaba, was freed on April 2 after a series of negotiations. The Abu Sayyaf threatened to kill the remaining captives if security forces are not pulled out in Sulu, where US troops are currently training Filipino soldiers. - GMANews.TV