Hostages in Marawi forced to fight

Indonesia police find IS propaganda targeting children

MARAWI CITY, Philippines, June 27, (Agencies): Civilians held hostage by Islamist militants occupying a southern Philippine city have been forced by their captors to loot homes, take up arms against government troops and serve as sex slaves for rebel fighters, the army said on Tuesday.

Citing accounts of seven residents of Marawi City who either escaped or were rescued, the military said some hostages were forced to convert to Islam, carry wounded fighters to mosques, and marry militants of the Maute group loyal to Islamic State.

“So they are being forced to be sex slaves, forced to destroy the dignity of these women,” military spokesman Jo-Ar Herrera told a news conference.

“So this is what is happening inside, this is very evident ... these are evil personalities.”

Their accounts, which could not be immediately verified, are the latest harrowing stories to come out of a conflict zone that the military has been unable to penetrate for five weeks, as well-armed and organised rebels fight off soldiers with sniper rifles and rocketpropelled grenades.

Some escapees say bodies of residents have been left in the streets, some for weeks, and civilians are distressed by government air strikes and artillery bombardments that have reduced parts of Marawi to rubble.

The protracted seizure has worried the region about the extent the Islamic State’s agenda may have gained traction in the southern Philippines, which is more used to banditry, piracy and separatism than radical Islam.

The rebels’ combat capability, access to heavy weapons and use of foreign fighters has raised fears in the mainly Catholic country that the Marawi battle could just be the start of a wider campaign, and be presented by Maute as a triumph to aid their recruitment efforts.

Heavy clashes broke out on Tuesday as the battle entered its sixth week, with intense bombings by planes on a shrinking rebel zone.

The government ruled out negotiations after reports that Abdullah Maute, one of two brothers who formed the militant group carrying their name, wanted to trade a Catholic priest hostage for his parents arrested earlier this month. The military said on Saturday Abdullah Maute had fled. Taking advantage of a short truce to mark the Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday, eight Muslim leaders met briefly on Sunday with Maute. The Philippine Daily Inquirer said he had asked for his father, Cayamora Maute, and influential businesswoman mother, Farhana Maute, to be freed, in a swap for Father Teresito “Chito” Soganub.

In related news, Islamist militants occupying parts of a southern Philippine city used a water route to bring in ammunition and evacuate wounded fighters, helping them withstand a five-week military offensive, the army said Tuesday.

The extremists fighting under the black banner of the Islamic State (IS) group have remained holed up in pockets of Marawi, weathering daily air and artillery bombardment and deadly urban street battles.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera said the route was discovered following the arrest of a man who used a boat to smuggle ammunition into the battle zone and ferry wounded militants out.

The military was able to cut off the “logistical and medical highway” across Lake Lanao, he said, adding that boat patrols on the lake have been bolstered.

“We found out that this man ... is the one facilitating the entry of ammunition. He is also the person bringing wounded fighters from the main battle area toward the south of Lanao Lake,” Herrera told reporters. “This is good news because we have now blocked this highway.” Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, is located on the shores of Lake Lanao on Mindanao island. Hundreds of militants attacked the city on May 23. The government described the attack as a rebellion aimed at setting up an IS province in the area — part of what it said was an attempt to carve out a caliphate in Southeast Asia.

JAKARTA:

Indonesian police have found hundreds of books containing Islamic State propaganda targeting children at the home of a suspect arrested in connection with the stabbing death of an officer, a police spokeswoman said on Monday.

Another suspected militant was shot and killed by police during Sunday’s attack on a police station in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province.

The wife of the arrested man told police her husband had spent six months in Syria in 2013, said police spokeswoman Rina Sari

Ginting, adding this was still being investigated. Police believe the men were part of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah

(JAD), an umbrella organization on a US State Department “terrorist” list which supports Islamic State and has hundreds of Indonesian followers.

“We can see from the pattern of their attack that it is likely they belong to the JAD network,” said Ginting.

There is concern about a rise of militancy in Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population.

Islamic State sympathisers have carried out a series of mostly low-level attacks over the past few years, and there are fears about the return of hundreds of Indonesians who have gone to Syria to support Islamic State.

The books aimed at children found at the home of the arrested man were written in Indonesian and included pictures and messages supportive of dying in jihad, or holy war, Ginting said. They appeared to be designed and printed by the suspect, she said. Police believe the suspects had intended not only to kill police during Sunday’s knife attack but also to seize their guns.

Out of 12 people being questioned in connection with the attack, one had been made a suspect and is alleged to have helped the attackers by surveying the police headquarters, she said.

Police were also investigating whether the attackers were linked to three suspected militants who were arrested on June 6 in the area by anti-terrorism police.