Philippine military close in on IS militants
Print Edition
THE Philippine military said it was close to retaking a southern city held for a seventh day by Islamist militants, as helicopters unleashed more rockets on positions held by the rebels aligned with Islamic State.
The occupation of Marawi city by the Maute, has become the biggest security challenge of 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 yesterday and caught the military by surprise.
“Our ground commanders have assured that the end is almost there,” military spokesman Restituto Padilla said. “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 barangays, or communities.
The Maute’s ability to fight off the military for so long will add to fears that IS’s radical ideology is spreading in the southern Philippines and it could become a haven for militants from Southeast Asia. Malaysians and Indonesians were among the rebels killed.
The government believes the Maute carried out their assault before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to capture the attention of IS and earn recognition.
Men with black headbands, typical of IS, were seen on the city streets. A photograph taken by a resident shows 10 men carrying rifles and dressed entirely in black.
Some troops tried to eliminate Maute snipers as others guarded deserted streets, taken back block by block.
Helicopters circled the city and smoke poured out of some buildings. Nearby Iligan City was in lockdown over fears that Maute fighters had sneaked out of Marawi by blending in with civilians.
Sixty-one militants, 20 members of the security forces and 19 civilians have been killed since last Tuesday, when Maute rebels went on the rampage after a botched military operation to arrest Isnilon Hapilon.
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