MANILA — Philippine fishermen groups and their sympathizers on Wednesday protested the live-fire sea drills involving the sinking of a decommissioned navy ship off the Zambales Province, northwest of Manila.

The protesters carried placards that read "US Imperialist No 1 Terrorist", "No to EDCA!", "No to US Military Bases!" and "No to joint US-Philippine Military Exercises", and called on the Philippine government to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States.

The protesters held separate rallies at the shoreline and the sea aboard boats. They urged the Filipinos to "resist US wars of aggressions", adding that military exercises are dangerous and dislocate the livelihood of the people, especially the fishermen.

The first-ever Combined Joint Littoral Live Fire Exercise involves approximately 1,400 Philippine and US servicemen.

The drills included detecting, identifying, targeting, and engaging a target ship using a variety of ground and air-based weapons systems.

The live-fire drill kicked off with the US HIMARS precision rocket system launching a series of rounds at a decommissioned Philippine Navy corvette anchored about 22 kilometers off the coast.

The ship, which represented an enemy vessel approaching the Philippine shore, was sunk by guided bombs dropped by US Marines'F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft, a US military spokesman said.

The drills are part of the largest-scale joint military exercise in decades between the two allies, which is being held in several areas in the Philippines from April 11 to 28.

Nearly 18,000 troops have taken part in the annual exercises, dubbed Balikatan, or "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog.

This year's Balikatan follows a deal announced earlier this month for US forces to use an increased number of bases in the Philippines, including one near Southeast China's Taiwan.

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday that "security cooperation between countries ... should not escalate tensions ... and should not target any third party".

Xinhua-Agencies