TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Australia sends spy planes to south Philippines

News Desk (AFP)
Sydney, Australia
Fri, June 23, 2017

Share This Article

Change Size

Australia sends spy planes to south Philippines A military helicopter flies out of a Philippine miliary camp as fighting rages nearby in Marawi, on the southern island of Mindanao on May 25, 2017. Philippine troops aboard helicopters and in armoured tanks battled Islamist militants inside a southern city on May 25, as reports emerged of the gunmen murdering civilians. TED ALJIBE / AFP (AFP/Ted Aljibe)

A

ustralian military spy planes will start flying missions over the southern Philippines to help in the fight against Islamic militants terrorising the area, the government said Friday.

Fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month around Marawi city in the Mindanao region in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Canberra, which has an extensive defence cooperation program with Manila, said two high-tech AP-3C Orion aircraft will provide surveillance support to the Philippine military.

"The regional threat from terrorism, in particular from Daesh and foreign fighters, is a direct threat to Australia and our interests," said Defence Minister Marise Payne, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"Australia will continue to work with our partners in Southeast Asia to counter it."

She recently spoke with her Philippine counterpart, Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana, about how Australia could help and "we agreed the best way to defeat terrorism in our region is for us to work together".

The versatile AP-3C Orion's usually patrol maritime borders and played a prominent role in searching for missing Malaysian Airlines plane MH370, which went down in the remote Indian Ocean off Australia in 2014.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

Their assault on the city ignited an unprecedented urban war, which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.

The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.