BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Australia will give a minimum of 28 aluminum-hulled boats within the year to Manila to help fight militants and rebels, said a defense department official on Tuesday.

    Maria Joji Aragon, assistant defense secretary for strategic assessment, said the river boats -- equipped with GPS and radios -- would be given to army commandos to patrol shallow marshlands in the south, where suspected militants are hiding.

    "This equipment will definitely boost the capability of the army," Aragon told reporters at the end of two days of bilateral talks between Philippine and Australian defense officials at the main military base in Manila.

    The boats, worth 4 million U.S. dollars, would be delivered late in 2007 and could also be used in shallow rivers in other parts of the country.

    Aragon said Australia had also agreed to pay for hundreds of Filipino soldiers attending advanced training and education at Australian war colleges and military institutions, allocating an annual budget of A$4 million (3.2 million dollars) for the program.

    "The money would also be used for post-graduate courses on defense management for some of Filipino generals and colonels," Aragon said, adding Australia was already the largest source of military training and education.

    During the last four years, Australia has budgeted almost 130 million dollars in regional counter-terrorism assistance after a series of deadly bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines by militants linked to al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah.

    Australia has been expanding security cooperation with some Southeast Asian sates to prevent Jemaah Islamiah, a regional network of militants, from carrying out bombings in the region.

    On Thursday, Canberra would sign a new security deal with Manila that would allow Australian troops to hold anti-terrorism exercises in the Philippines' troubled south.

    (Agencies)