The Philippine military yesterday said it was close to retaking a southern city held for a seventh day by Muslim militants, as helicopters unleashed more rockets on positions held by the rebels aligned with Islamic State group.
The occupation of Marawi city by the Maute, a group hardly heard of a year ago, has become the biggest security challenge of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s 11-month presidency, with gunmen resisting air and ground assaults and controlling central parts of a city of 200,000 people.
The military said the rebels may be getting help from “sympathetic elements” and fighters they had freed from jail during the rampage that started on Tuesday last week and caught the military by surprise.
Photo: EPA
“Our ground commanders have assured that the end is almost there,” military spokesman Restituto Padilla told reporters. “We’re trying to isolate all these pockets of resistance.”
More than 100 people have been killed, most of them militants, according to the military, and most of the city’s residents have fled.
The military said the Maute group was still present in nine of the city’s 96 barangay, or communities.
Photo: EPA
The Maute’s ability to fight off the military for so long will add to fears that Islamic State group’s radical ideology is spreading in the southern Philippines and it could become a haven for militants from Southeast Asia and beyond. Malaysians and Indonesians were among the rebels killed.
The government believes the Maute carried out their assault before start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to capture the attention of Islamic State group and earn recognition as a regional affiliate.
According to witnesses, men with black headbands typical of Islamic State group have been seen on city streets in recent days. A photograph taken by a resident shows 10 men carrying assault rifles and dressed entirely in black.
Some soldiers yesterday tried to eliminate Maute snipers as others guarded deserted streets, taken back block by block, while helicopters circled the lakeside city and smoke poured out of some buildings. Artillery explosions echoed.
Nearby Iligan City was in lockdown over fears that Maute fighters had sneaked out of Marawi by blending in with civilians.
“We don’t want what’s happening in Marawi to spill over in Iligan,” said Colonel Alex Aduca, head of the Fourth Mechanized Infantry Battalion.
Sixty-one militants, 20 security forces members and 19 civilians have been killed so far, while thousands of people are stranded, worried they could be intercepted by militants if they tried to flee.
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