The Philippine government is to triple the size of a special forces military unit that operates against Islamist militants responsible for deadly bombings and kidnappings of Westerners, officials said Tuesday, January 7, 2014. The Light Reaction Battalion is to be...
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The Philippine government is to triple the size of a special forces military unit that operates against Islamist militants responsible for deadly bombings and kidnappings of Westerners, officials said Tuesday, January 7, 2014.
The Light Reaction Battalion is to be built up to regiment size, Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes said, an increase from about 500 soldiers to as many as 1,500.
“We have seen how effective they are, so we are strengthening the unit in terms of anti-terrorism. From a battalion we’ll increase it to a regiment,” he said.
The unit is fighting the Abu Sayyaf, a group of several hundred Islamist militants who are behind the country’s deadliest attacks as well as kidnappings of Western targets.
Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the battalion had taken substantial casualties during a three-week battle against gunmen in the southern port of Zamboanga in September last year.
“As you have seen, we lost a number of our men in the Zamboanga incident, which led to a shortage that needed to be addressed,” Gazmin said.
Neither official gave a timetable, but armed forces spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said the unit would be bulked up within the year.
“Based on what happened in Zamboanga, our military leadership saw a need to increase the strength of the Light Reaction Battalion to be able to address contingencies anywhere in the country,” Zagala told AFP.
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