MARAWI, Philippines - Government forces control most of the southern city of Marawi where militants linked to the Islamic State group launched a bloody siege almost a week ago, authorities said Monday, as the army launched air strikes and went house-to-house to crush areas of resistance.
The clashes erupted on Tuesday last week when gunmen waving black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group rampaged through the mostly Muslim-populated city in response to an effort by security forces to arrest a Filipino on the USA government's list of most-wanted terrorists.
The Maute and other hardline groups have rejected the peace process.
"We aired this message in the hope of ending this soon and reducing any more loss of lives and property", he said.
The violence in Marawi erupted Tuesday last week, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to place the whole of Mindanao island under martial rule.
"For the terrorists, not surrendering will mean their sure death", he said.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines today confirmed that the man in the video circulating online was Fr Chito Suganob who was at St. Mary's cathedral when he was abducted alongside members of his congregation.
The Maute militants, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group past year, burned down buildings and churches as they entered the city.
As government forces focused on driving the rebels from Marawi, they also escorted dozens of civilians from the city using armored personnel carriers and military trucks mounted with machine guns. "The remaining are areas of pockets of resistance that are still being kept in the hands of these militants", Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said in a phone interview with ANC's Headstart.
"We can not verify it yet".
IOS 11 may support higher-quality music files with FLAC lossless audio
Transferring money was never easy but thanks to Apple Pay , you can send money from the Messages apps. From there you can already download the current file for iOS 11 and have it installed on your iPhone.
"Rescue of trapped residents and recovery of civilian casualties, victims (are ongoing)", Padilla said.
"That is true. That is one of the objects of recovery of the PNP".
"We will patrol the sea around [Sangir Island], and we will have troops on the ground too", Wiranto said in Jakarta. "When they were ambushed [by the Maute], one wheel broke down and the policemen were left", he said.
He said the military was making "very positive" progress towards ending the crisis, which had also seen 21 security forces and 19 civilians killed.
"ISIS announcements online show the Marawi uprising and Manchester claims of responsibility came at the same time", Cohen said.
Eight bodies were found on Sunday morning dumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Marawi, which is normally a bustling city of 200,000 people known as a centre of Islamic culture and education.
The clashes started after security forces tried to capture Isnilon Hapilon, an Islamist militant leader who is the subject of a $5m Federal Bureau of Investigation reward and endorsed by Isis, which seeks to to establish a presence outside the Middle East.
The violence started on Tuesday when the terrorists ambushed government troops who were moving in to raid the hideout of Hapilon in the city.
The military said Monday that seven consecutive days of fighting between government troops and Daesh-linked terrorists in Marawi City had already resulted in the deaths of 100 people.
The unrest has boosted fears that the violent ideology of the IS is gaining a foothold in the restive southern Philippines, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has raged for decades.
Comments