The United States today gave the Philippines hundreds of machine guns, pistols and grenade launchers, which a local commander said would be used against Islamist militants battling troops in a southern city. <br/><br/>The weapons, including machine guns capable of firing thousands of rounds a minute, were handed over at a ceremony in Manila that highlighted a decade-old American counter-terrorism assistance programme to the Philippines worth about 150 million dollars.<br/><br/>The Philippines and the United States have for decades been close allies, and they are bound by a 1951 mutual defence treaty to protect each other if attacked.The United States is the Philippines' biggest supplier of military hardware and arms.