‘Women, children are shooting at troops’

> Philippine army says Marawi could be retaken in three weeks

MANILA: Philippine troops fighting rebels linked to Islamic State (IS) in a southern city have encountered armed resistance from women and children, the military said yesterday, as troops make a final push to end a conflict that has raged for more than 100 days.

Ground forces were braced for higher casualties amid fierce fighting in Marawi on the island of Mindanao, where the field of battle has shrank to a small area in a commercial heart infested with snipers, and littered with booby traps.

“We are now in the final phase of our operations and we are expecting more intense and bloody fighting. We may suffer heavier casualties as the enemy becomes more desperate,” Lt-Gen Carlito Galvez, who heads the military in western Mindanao, said.

He said the number of fighters was diminishing and a small number of women and children, most likely family members of the rebels, were now engaged in combat.

“Our troops in the field are seeing women and children shooting at our troops so that’s why it seems they are not running out of fighters.”

More than 800 people have been killed in the battle, most of them insurgents, since May 23 when the militants occupied large parts of the predominantly Muslim town.

The battle is the biggest security challenge in years for the Philippines, even though it has a long history of separatist rebellion in Mindanao, which 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 well-organised, 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 hostages – most of them women – and about 80 male residents who may 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 of 35 buildings a day and at that rate, it could be three weeks before the city was under government control.

Fighting in Marawi 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 air strikes. – Reuters