IED kills three in Philippines

Sadly, the names of the men lost have not yet been made public.

The Philippine government offered its condolences to the families of the slain soldiers and praised them for helping undertake civic projects and secure peace on Jolo, about 590 miles south of Manila, the capital.

The troops were on a public support project building a school.

I'd venture to guess this made the AP because two of the dead were American Seabees, but it is more newsworthy from the point of view of reporting some sophistication to the Abu Sayyaf group's attacks.

If the days of improvised nail-bombs outside cafes has given way to command-detonated anti-vehicle strikes, then a whole new level of force protection is going to be the order of the day, for both the Philippines Military and those American advisors/support elements in the region.

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Update 3.Oct

Hm... this just came down the wire... and U.S. DOD has nothing on Navy personnel losses...

10/03/2009: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
10/03/2009: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
10/02/2009: Army Establishes Program Executive Office Integration to Support Modernization
10/02/2009: Awards Announced In “Social And Behavioral Dimensions Of National Security, Conflict And Cooperation” Competition
10/01/2009: DoD Identifies Army Casualties
10/01/2009: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
10/01/2009: General Officer Announcement
10/01/2009: General Officer Assignments
10/01/2009: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
09/30/2009: National Guard (In Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of September 29, 2009
09/30/2009: $555 Million DoD Homeowners Assistance Program Details Announced
09/30/2009: DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

Note: the 10/01/2009 "Army Casualties" is the report of the two operators killed in the Philippines.

Hmm.

h/t to Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive on this one.