Gunmen kill 6 people in southern Philippines

MANILA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - At least six people were killed on Friday when gunmen opened fire at a Christian home on a mainly Muslim island in the southern Philippines, an army general said.

Brigadier-General Alexander Aleo, an army commander, said the dawn shooting in Patikul town could be part of fresh efforts to foment Christian-Muslim conflict on the island of Jolo ahead of U.S. counter-terorrism drills late this month.

Aleo said three men, two women and an eight-month-old infant were killed in the attack. Six others, three of them children, survived the shooting with minor injuries.

"We don't know the motive for the shooting," Aleo said.

However, one of the victims told soldiers who rushed to the area that the gunmen had asked them whether they were Muslims or Christians before firing their weapons.

"We suspect some groups may be trying to heat up a religious conflict on the island. We may be speculating, but the violence could be related to protests on the presence of U.S. soldiers on Jolo."

On Thursday, about 200 Muslim activists marched around Jolo town, demanding the pullout of U.S. commandos taking part in annual drills. They also burned American flags.

Local officials said the protests were a reflection of the fear among Muslims of U.S. soldiers as their presence brings back memories of colonial atrocities carried out during American rule in the early 1900s.

About 5,000 U.S. troops are due to take part in the annual "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) war games to be conducted throughout the Philippines later this month.

Some 250 members of a U.S. special forces unit are to be deployed on Jolo.

Protesters said they had seen some U.S. troops fighting alongside Philippine soldiers in November during offensives against the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim militant group with ties to al Qaeda and the regional network Jemaah Islamiah.