The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Monday denied the reports that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have been engaged in covert operations against terrorists in the Philippines for at least a year.

Spokesman Gilberto Asuque told reporters that the Australian agents were in the country only to train their local counterparts on counter-terrorism.

Asuque said the training is being conducted under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to combat terrorism signed between Australia and the Philippines in March 2003 and the Philippines-Australia MOU to combat transnational crime signed in July 2003.

"These are within the Philippines-Australia counter-terrorism capacity building program from 2004 to 2007," he said.

Asuque, however, noted that there are only about two or three Australian federal police who came to the Philippines under the federal program.

The Australian media Sunday reported that the AFP has been operating from a base in a foreign country with an elite squad given the task of hunting some of the region's most dangerous criminals.

The covert operations in the Philippines reportedly involved tracking down members of terrorist groups in Mindanao and preventing bomb attacks at the Manila train system, the reports said.

The Australian Embassy in Manila declined to comment on the reports. The embassy's public affairs section referred inquiries to the AFP headquarters in Canberra.

Source: Xinhua