MANILA, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A new batch of the US special forces have arrived in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga to replace their processors training Filipino troops on anti-terrorism operations, a US officer in the city said on Tuesday.

　　The group of less than 100 American soldiers led by US special forces commander identified only as Major Alonzo will take over the training responsibility from a Major Lemire and his men, the ABS-CBN on-line news quoted Major Randy Cephus, US spokesman for the Joint Special Operation Task Force-Philippines, as saying.

　　Cephus explained that due to security concerns, names of these trainers will not be released for media consumption. "That is partof the protection that we are instituting for our forces," Cephus said without elaborating.

　　These American soldiers are living in a highly secured camp within the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Southern Command in Zamboanga.

　　A US soldier and two Filipinos were killed in a blast masterminded by the Abu Sayyaf bandits at a karaoke bar outside the military base on October 2002. Twenty-three people including another US soldier were also wounded.

　　The American victims were among the small group of military advisers giving counter-terrorist training to Filipino troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom group allegedly with ties to the al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden.

　　The Philippine-US war game coded Balikatan 03-1 is slated in the second half of this year to flush out the remnant Abu Sayyaf gunmen hiding in the thick bushes on the southern island of Jolo, a known lair for the group. Enditem