AN elite Australian Special Air Service team of about 20 soldiers has been involved in a joint military operation in the southern Philippines to hunt down Asia's most wanted terrorists, including two of the 2002 Bali bombers.2.Special forces wage war by stealth
The SAS has been participating in a US-Philippines military campaign to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf terror outfit, which is believed to have been sheltering senior Indonesian Jemaah Islamiah terrorists Dulmatin and Umar Patek.
The campaign, centred on the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo island in Mindanao, has been running for more than two months.
Sources told The Weekend Australian it involved about 100 US special forces, including Green Berets, Navy SEALs and CIA counter-terrorism specialists, as well as the armed forces of The Philippines.
The SAS was involved in joint operations with Philippines forces using high-speed inflatable boats to stop terrorists trying to get in and out of the southern Philippines.
A number of terrorists have been captured by boats operating among islands between The Philippines and the east coast of Malaysia.
The SAS action in The Philippines is the closest the SAS has come to conventional combat operations in Southeast Asia since the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
The Philippines constitution forbids foreign forces from engaging directly in combat operations on Philippines soil. This restricts US and Australian forces to training and logistics.
However, it is believed that these terms are sufficiently elastic to allow intimate US and Australian involvement in Philippines military operations, with the only proviso that the final military action must be taken by Philippines soldiers. They can, however, be accompanied by Americans or Australians.
Dulmatin, the bomb technician who planned and carried out the 2002 Bali attacks, has a $US10 million ($13 million) bounty on his head, offered by the US Government.
Patek, who recruited the suicide bombers to carry out the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, reportedly died in a shootout with Filipino soldiers last month.
Philippines security forces claimed that Patek, who had a $US1million ($1.3 million) bounty on his head, "died from the wounds he suffered" after forces attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp on Jolo. But a senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade source said Patek was thought to be alive.
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The Australian SAS contingent was chosen because of its expertise in small, fast boats.
The SAS used rigid inflatables of the kind used in the interception of the Norwegian Tampa refugee boat in 2001.
Under an expanded counter-terrorist defence assistance program, Australia is to supply 30 vessels to the Philippines Navy.
It will supply training and maintenance support for the life of the boats.
ANALYSISAussie SAS 13.10.2006
Greg Sheridan
October 14, 2006
A SMALL team of about 20 Australian Special Air Service soldiers has been helping track down Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah terrorists in the southern Philippines.
The soldiers have been notionally in joint patrols with Filipino military personnel but in truth the Australians are leading the efforts they are involved with.
For the past couple of months a spasmodically ferocious effort has been waged in Mindanao, in particular on the island of Jolo, to eradicate the ASG, an al-Qa'ida affiliated terror group of extreme violence and cruelty.
The SAS campaign is the nearest the Australian special forces have come to direct combat operations in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War. The SAS was involved in East Timor but that was peace-keeping rather than combat.
Under The Philippines' constitution, foreign forces are not allowed to have permanent bases or engage in direct combat on Philippines' soil. This has hampered the US, which has the broadest and deepest military relationship with The Philippines.
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