TROOPS FIND ARMED WOMEN, KIDS IN MARAWI

They are likely family members of fighters, says military

MARAWI challenge in years for the mostly Catholic Philippines, even though it has a long history of Muslim separatist rebellion in Mindanao, an island of 22 million people that has been placed under martial law until the end of the year.

The protracted clashes and resilience of the rebels has fanned fears that Philippine groups loyal to IS, and with ties to Indonesian and Malaysian militants, have formed an alliance that is wellorganised, funded and armed, and serious about carving out its own territory in Mindanao.

Citing information provided by four hostages who had escaped from the rebels, Galvez said there were some 56 Christian hostages, most of them women, and about 80 male residents might have been forced to take up arms and fight the military.

The fighting was concentrated in an area around a mosque about a quarter of a square kilometre.

He said soldiers were taking control of an average 35 buildings a day and at that rate, it could be three weeks before the city was under government control.

Fighting in the city was intense yesterday, with heavy gunfire and explosions ringing out across the picturesque, lakeside town, the heart of which has been devastated by near-daily government airstrikes.

Helicopters circled above to provide air cover for ground troops as fighting raged, with bursts of smoke rising above the skyline as bombs landed on rebel positions.

Galvez said intelligence showed the rebels’ military commander, Abdullah Maute, might have been killed last month in an airstrike.

Postings on Facebook and chatter over the past two days on Telegram, a messaging application used by IS and its sympathisers, had carried tributes to Abdullah, referring to him by one of his pseudonyms, he said.

“There is no 100 per cent confirmation until we see his cadaver, but this is enough to presume he died already,” he said.

The military has contradictory statements about the status of the rebel leaders over the past few months.

Abdullah and brother Omarkhayam are the Middle East-educated leaders of a militant clan, known as the Maute group, that gained notoriety in the past two years due to its ability to engage the army for long periods.

Under the name Dawla Islamiya, the Maute group formed an alliance with Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of a pro-IS faction of another group, Abu Sayyaf.

Galvez said the army’s intelligence indicated both Omarkhayam and Hapilon, IS’ anointed “emir” in Southeast Asia, were still in the Marawi battle. Reuters