Lamitan, Philippines ? President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo saluted troops who rescued a U.S. missionary and mourned the deaths of two other hostages during a tour Tuesday through southern islands terrorized by Muslim guerrillas.

Scores of soldiers patrolled the streets, and two tanks guarded the Roman Catholic school where the Philippine leader met with military and local officials in this town on Basilan island a base for the Abu Sayyaf rebels.

A battalion of Philippine Army troopers disembarks from a C-130 military transport plane upon arrival in Zamboanga, southern Philippines. The military has intensified the manhunt for Abu Sayyaf rebels, and Philippines President Gloria Macagapal Arroyo called on soldiers Tuesday to crush the remnants of the extremist forces.

Arroyo’s visit and her plans to spend the night in Lamitan where troops have battled rebels in the streets were designed to show the government controls the area.

Her trip came four days after Philippine troops freed U.S. hostage Gracia Burnham, whom the rebels held for more than a year. Burnham’s husband, Martin, and Filipina hostage Ediborah Yap were killed.

Before flying to Basilan, Arroyo stopped at Mindinao island, where Burnham was rescued and the others died. She saluted the elite forces involved in the mission and called on them to crush the remnants of the group.

“The Filipinos and the world are proud of you,” she said. “All eyes are on you so we can win this final phase.”

In Lamitan Yap’s hometown Arroyo put flowers on the woman’s white coffin and embraced her relatives. The president planned to raise the Philippine flag today in the town the country’s Independence Day.

Arroyo was “100 percent safe” in Lamitan, said Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, who heads southern Philippine military forces.

No major clashes have been reported since the military launched an offensive over the weekend to wipe out the rebels on the islands of Jolo, Basilan and Mindanao. The area is in a 60-mile stretch of the Sulu Sea in the extreme southwest of the Philippines.

Carolina said troops were closing in on the guerrillas but chasing them was difficult.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Carolina told reporters. “The only difference is that this needle is moving. It is breathing and it shoots back.”

One guerrilla abandoned with leg wounds was found Tuesday about four miles from the rescue site.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who have been linked to the al-Qaida terror network, say they want to create a Muslim state in the southern Philippines.

Their forces in Basilan are thought to number fewer than 100, down from more than 1,200 a year ago, after a yearlong military offensive. About 140 more rebels are scattered in Jolo and Zamboanga, Carolina said.

Arroyo also met with Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of an American force training and advising Philippine troops fighting the rebels. Wurster told Arroyo the troops should not be disheartened by the two hostages’ deaths because “in any gunfight, things can happen bad.” The Burnhams had been working as missionaries in the Philippines for 15 years when they were abducted on May 27, 2001.

“Mrs. Burnham will have the opportunity to go home and raise her children and that’s an important piece of this,” Wurster said.

About 1,000 Green Berets, pilots, support staff and military engineers are to end their six-month mission on July 31. Neither side has decided whether the Americans will extend their stay.

About 3,000 Basilan residents signed a letter to Arroyo asking that American troops be permanently stationed on the island.

The Abu Sayyaf has seized 102 hostages in the past year. Eighteen were killed, mostly beheaded or hacked to death. During the period, 43 soldiers have died hunting for the guerrillas.