U.S. special ops plane hit over Philippines

The MC-130, also known as the Combat Talon

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Small arms fire struck a U.S. Air Force plane as it was flying over a mountainous region in the northern Philippines, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred Wednesday evening during joint exercises involving U.S. and Philippine military forces. The plane, an MC-130H, was flying over Luzon, the east Asian nation's largest northernmost island and home of its capital, Manila.

A round pierced the aircraft's fuselage about 7 p.m. local time (6 a.m. EST Wednesday), narrowly missing a crew member. According to the Pentagon, the plane carries a crew of seven, although it is unknown how many people were aboard the plane when it was struck.

The plane returned safely Clark Air Force Base, where an inspection revealed it had been hit twice by small arms fire. The other bullet hit the fuel tank on the wing, officials said.

The Pentagon did not specify the aircraft's mission or say whether it was related to joint exercises involving U.S. and Philippine forces, which include setting up a counter-terrorism training camp for Philippine soldiers on the southern island of Mindanao.

Those exercises have triggered protests among some Filipinos concerned that they may lead to an increased and sustained military involvement by the United States, the Philippine's former colonial ruler.

Philippine government and military officials have defended the exercises, with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo saying U.S. forces are "not there to do combat -- they are there to do training."

U.S. officials have said that Abu Sayyaf, a militant group which says its fighting for an independent Muslim state in the Philippines and is well-known for kidnapping westerners, is funded by Osama bin Laden.

In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Bush said, "We now have troops in the Philippines helping to train that country's armed forces to go after terrorist cells that have executed an American and still hold hostages."

Bush's comments raised concern among some Filipinos, including members of Arroyo's government.

"It's clear in my mind that one president of a friendly country does not threaten another friendly country," Justice Secretary Hernando Perez told The Associated Press.