MANILA, Jan 8, 2007 (AFP) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo assured her fellow Asian leaders Monday that security was in place to prevent attacks during their summit in central Cebu city this week. "Our fight against terror goes hand in hand with the global and regional effort," Arroyo said in a statement. "And as we face the ASEAN summit, we would like to assure all our allies in the East Asia and beyond that the Filipino soldiery and people are on watch every hour of the day, determined to do their share to defeat terror for a more secure and safer world," she said. She said the meetings in Cebu "will sustain the momentum in our collective fight against terror and in mopping up all forms of instability" that affect the region. Arroyo's statement came after troops killed six Al-Qaeda-linked militants in a maritime clash in the south at the weekend. One of those killed is said to be an aide of Dulmatin, a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant blamed for the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia. Leaders of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are to converge in Cebu this week for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual summit. Leaders from Japan, South Korea, China, India, Australia and New Zealand are also arriving for a meeting with the ASEAN leaders. The summits were originally scheduled to take place last December, but were postponed at the last minute over concerns about possible terrorist attacks, according to sources. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States have issued warnings that Al-Qaeda-linked militants could stage attacks during the summit. Arroyo on Monday commended troops for Saturday's operation against militant and said "these terrorist elements have nowhere to hide and are in fact already doomed to annihilation." Troops are currently on a massive manhunt operation on southern Jolo island to capture remnants of the Abu Sayyaf, a small gang of Islamic militants aiding Dulmatin and several other JI members. Both groups are on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organizations. jvg/skj