U.S. military advisors disembark from their plane at the Zamboanga City airport in the southern Philippines

KAZI MAHMOOD, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent 

KUALA LUMPUR, February 22 (IslamOnline.net) - A controversy is raging in Manila over the role of U.S. troops, involved in the “war games” currently underway in the province of Sulu, in hunting down Abu Sayyaf fighters.

The Pentagon said Saturday that U.S. troops will take part in an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, but Manila insists that is not the case.

About 1,750 U.S. troops are already in the province of Sulu to take part in the ‘war games’ along side Filipino soldiers.

A U.S. defense official that American soldiers will take part in hunting down Abu Sayyaf fighters.

"These operations will be led by the Armed Force of the Philippines with assistance by U.S. forces," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Inq7 agency Thursday, February 20.

However, the Filipino government insisted Friday, February 21, that Balikatan 03-1 the Filipino co-name for the war games would only be "a joint training exercise."

"American soldiers will not engage in offensive operations against the Abu Sayyaf," Ignacio Bunye, presidential spokesperson, said at a news briefing.

"They will only fire back in self-defense."

Bunye dismissed reports by U.S. newspapers and wire agencies quoting Pentagon officials as saying that American forces were set to engage in combat alongside Filipino troops in Sulu.

He said U.S. troops would operate "under the overall command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines."

On the other hand, several government officials severely criticized the presidency for allegedly agreeing to American troops joining Filipino forces in combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

The officials warned the plan would go against the provisions of the country’s Constitution.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel accused Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes on Friday of treason for turning the Philippines into a "deadly laboratory for the testing of the effectiveness of U.S. troops, tactics and weaponry against so-called terrorists in Moroland," reported the Abs-Cbnnews agency.

U.S. forces last year helped train and advise Filipino military units in an operation against Abu Sayyaf on the southern island of Basilan.

Some 750 U.S. troops on the ground and another 1,000 marines aboard amphibious assault ships will take part in the operations, to be conducted primarily in the Sulu archipelago, whose main island is Jolo.

About 350 U.S. Special Forces troops will be on the Sulu archipelago with Filipino forces and another 400 U.S. troops will provide support from Zamboanga City, headquarters of the Philippine southern command, an official said.

The USS Essex, which is berthed near the Island of Solo and another amphibious assault ship, are to be a quick reaction force and provide aviation, logistics, medical support and command and control for the U.S. forces, the Pentagon official said.

Several hundred Abu Sayyaf rebels are believed to be using the Sulu archipelago as a base.

The militant group is wanted for kidnapping and killing foreign and local tourists, including two Americans, and was blamed for a bombing in Zamboanga on October 2 that killed a U.S. serviceman.