Philippines Deploys Top Commandoes for Retake Marawi from ISIS
Philippines Deploys Top Commandoes for Retake Marawi from ISIS
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MANILA - The Philippines deployed attack helicopters and special forces to drive out Islamic State (ISIS)-linked rebels holed up in a besieged southern city on Thursday, as efforts to take back control met heavy resistance.
Ground troops hid behind walls and armored vehicles and exchanged volleys of gunfire with Maute group fighters, firing into elevated positions occupied by militants who have held Marawi City on Mindanao island for two days.
Helicopters circled the city, peppering Maute positions with machine gun fire to try to force them from a bridge vital to retaking Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of 200,000 where fighters had torched and seized a school, a jail, a cathedral, and took more than a dozen hostages.
"We're confronting maybe 30 to 40 remaining from the local terrorist group," said Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the military's First Infantry Regiment.
"The military is conducting precise, surgical operations to flush them out... The situation is very fluid and movements are dynamic because we wanted to out-step and outmaneuver them," he added.
The battles with the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, started on Tuesday afternoon during a failed raid by security forces on one of the group's hideouts, which spiraled into chaos.
The turmoil was the final straw for President Rodrigo Duterte, who delivered on his threat to impose martial law on Mindanao, the country's second-largest island, to stop the spread of radical Islam.
ISIS claimed responsibility late on Wednesday for Maute's activities via its Amaq news agency.
At least 21 people - seven soldiers, 13 rebels and a civilian - have been killed and religious leaders say militants were using Christians taken hostage during the fighting as human shields.
The White House condemned the Maute group as "cowardly terrorists" and said in a statement the United States was a proud ally of the Philippines and would continue to support its fight against extremism.
Ground troops hid behind walls and armored vehicles and exchanged volleys of gunfire with Maute group fighters, firing into elevated positions occupied by militants who have held Marawi City on Mindanao island for two days.
Helicopters circled the city, peppering Maute positions with machine gun fire to try to force them from a bridge vital to retaking Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of 200,000 where fighters had torched and seized a school, a jail, a cathedral, and took more than a dozen hostages.
"We're confronting maybe 30 to 40 remaining from the local terrorist group," said Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the military's First Infantry Regiment.
"The military is conducting precise, surgical operations to flush them out... The situation is very fluid and movements are dynamic because we wanted to out-step and outmaneuver them," he added.
The battles with the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, started on Tuesday afternoon during a failed raid by security forces on one of the group's hideouts, which spiraled into chaos.
The turmoil was the final straw for President Rodrigo Duterte, who delivered on his threat to impose martial law on Mindanao, the country's second-largest island, to stop the spread of radical Islam.
ISIS claimed responsibility late on Wednesday for Maute's activities via its Amaq news agency.
At least 21 people - seven soldiers, 13 rebels and a civilian - have been killed and religious leaders say militants were using Christians taken hostage during the fighting as human shields.
The White House condemned the Maute group as "cowardly terrorists" and said in a statement the United States was a proud ally of the Philippines and would continue to support its fight against extremism.
(rnz)
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