PM visits Aussie troops in Philippines
Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull attended an urban close-combat demonstration given by soldiers from the Australian Army’s Joint Task Force 629 and Filipino soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippines Army.
CAPTION: Australian Army officer Lieutenant Wes Walsh talks with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after an urban-combat-skills demonstration at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Headquarters in Manila. Photo by Corporal Kyle Genner.
The demonstration, on Monday 13 November 2017, was held at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Headquarters in Manila, Philippines.
Filipino soldiers had just completed a three-week course in urban close combat run by an Australian Defence Force Land Mobile Training Team deployed to the Philippines as part of Operation Augury.
Operation Augury is part of a whole-of-Australian-government effort to work closely with the government of the Philippines in its fight against terrorism, and supports its determination to defeat Daesh-affiliated groups in the southern Philippines.
The urban close-combat demonstration gave Prime Minister Turnbull an opportunity to observe the new urban close-combat skills taught to the Filipino soldiers by Joint Task Force 629.
Mr Turnbull also took time to speak with soldiers from both countries after the demonstration.
The Australian Defence Force expanded its assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines to strengthen its long-term ability to combat terrorist threats and prevent the spread of Daesh to our region.
Minister for Defence Marise Payne announced that ADF mobile training teams would provided urban-warfare counter-terrorism training in the Philippines shortly after five months of fierce fighting in the southern Philippines city had officially ended.
Marawi was seized by Daesh-aligned terrorists in May this year.
Many of the soldiers now under Australian tutorage are veterans of the fight to retake Marawi.
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