Military: Support Philippines-U.S. Joint Exercise

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Military: Support Philippines-U.S. Joint Exercise

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In a bid to convince those opposing the Philippines-U.S. joint military exercise in the southern Philippines, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto AdanTuesday showed to public raw footages of Abu Sayyaf members beheading captives in 1995.

The two-hour tape, shown to some 50 foreign and local journalists in Manila, were actual footages of beheadings and series of encounters between the government troops and the Abu Sayyaf bandits on January 8, 9 and 13, 1995, in the jungles of Basilan.

The video, recovered by government troops in an encounter in Basilan last year, was taken by a member of the bandit group. It showed two soldiers tied was beheaded before a shallow gorge with machete.

The other footages showed two seriously wounded soldiers being beheaded during encounters.

Adan said the government decided to make public the tape to convince those who still have doubts about the true nature of the military operation in Basilan.

"These footages show no doubt to the capacity of the enemy of cruelty against government troops who are there to defend the stability (of our country)," Adan said.

"It is now time that our people understand the true nature of the enemy that is terrorism and so we call on our people to support our government and the military in our campaign to defeat terrorism in all its sorts," he added.

Adan expressed hopes that the people would appreciate the assistance given by the U.S. government and the benefits of the joint exercise in combating terrorism.

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