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Manila, April 25 (IANS) Around 100 American and Filipino troops Wednesday staged a mock assault at Palawan beach in the Philippines as part of a joint military exercise. Filipino naval vessel BRP Laguna released 12 rubber boats with US and Philippines soldiers around six km off the shore of the Ulugan bay. The soldiers were offloaded from the boats about 300 metres from the shore, Xinhua reported. As part of the exercise, the soldiers swam to the shore and raided a port which had been captured by terrorists holding hostages. "It's a port seizure and recovery," said Navy lieutenant Annalea Palad-Cazcarro, deputy chief of the exercise. "At the end of the firefight, the port was recovered and the hostages were rescued," he said. Last week, the two forces conducted a gas and oil platform defence and retake exercise in the South China Sea. They also conducted live fire exercises at the gunnery range of Crow Valley in Capaz, Tarlac province. The 12-day war games will end at the general headquarters of the Philippines Armed Forces in Quezon City Friday.
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