MANILA - A land mine possibly planted by Islamist insurgents blew up a vehicle carrying two American soldiers and a Filipino marine in the southern Philippines yesterday, killing them and wounding two other Filipino marines, the army said. It was the first time in seven years that US military personnel have been killed in this country.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, an army spokesman, said the blast occurred near the town of Idanan on the island of Jolo, an area of recent fighting between government forces and Islamist militants who have been waging an insurrection for years.
Brawner said the Americans were Army noncombatants helping supervise a school-building project.
The last time an American military service member was killed in the Philippines was 2002, when a soldier died in a bombing in Zamboanga City. Washington began sending elite counterinsurgency troops in 2002, largely to Mindanao, the main region in the southern Philippines, to assist the Philippine military in its fight against the Islamist terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
Although Brawner said the investigation was continuing, suspicions fell on Abu Sayyaf, which is active in the region.
Under an agreement between Manila and Washington, American soldiers are prohibited from engaging in combat. Government critics and nationalists, however, contend that providing intelligence support is tantamount to combat.
The presence of American forces in the country has long been a hot political issue - about 600 American troops are currently stationed here - and some Filipino senators have recently urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to abrogate the agreement. The deaths of the American soldiers seemed certain to inflame the debate.
