Report: Troops abused rights in Marawi battle

MANILA: Philippine troops detained and tortured civilians trying to flee a besieged southern city during a five-month battle with militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group, Amnesty International alleged yesterday.

The US-backed military campaign to retake Marawi claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people, including around 900 militants, displaced 400,000 residents and reduced large parts of the city to rubble.

Amnesty called on Manila to investigate claims of “serious violations of international humanitarian law and other serious violations and abuses of human rights law” in a report on the violence, a month after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the city liberated from pro-IS gunmen.

“Philippine government forces violated the prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, and allegedly committed the crime of pillage,” the report said.

The rights group said it interviewed eight people, including seven Christian construction workers, who described how they were subjected to “sustained beatings and threats of execution” by Philippine marines.

Amnesty also said it spoke with several people who alleged that government forces looted civilian property of television sets, antiques, and computers while the militants stole weapons, jewellery and money from homes.

“Government forces may also have carried out disproportionate air and ground attacks,” it said, adding that the civilian death toll from bombings and militant killings “is likely significantly higher than the official count”.

The Amnesty report also said the war saw Islamist insurgents execute civilians or use them as human shields.

Witnesses described at least 10 separate incidents where at least 25 people were executed by the Muslim extremists because they were Christians. Agencies