6 more months needed to rid Marawi of planted IEDs – AFP

The deputy commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Joint Task Force Ranao said that it will take at least six more months before the military can finish with its clearing operations of improvised explosive devices (IED) and other unexploded ordnances in 24 barangays

in the main battle area (MBA) inside Marawi City.

In an interview, Colonel Romeo Brawner, said clearing the barangays of IEDs, bombs, and other ordnances will not be easy as the area needed to be cleared is still about 2 by 1.5 kilometers wide.

“It’s still big, there’s still many to be cleared,” Brawner said. “Imagine in just one house, the debris that are scattered will be picked up one by one, the roofs will be lifted one by one. The difficult part is to lift heavy structures. Heavy equipment is needed to get the job done.”

“It’s hard to make an estimate but what I saw as I just came to Task Force Bangon Marawi, the timeline given is April, 2018. All clearing of bombs should be finished by that time,” he said.

Colonel Brawner said government troops continue to find IEDs as the area. The area so far cleared is just two blocks.

“Yes, so far only two blocks have been cleared. The first clearing was easy but now we are using equipment like metal detectors. So we are deliberate now with our clearing operations,” Brawner said.

He said just last week, soldiers were able to recover 16 IEDs more than a month since government declared the end of hostilities in Marawi.

The total number of firearms recovered stood at 77.

Asked if there are still Maute Group fighters still left or hiding in the battle aeaa, Brawner said apparently there are no more.

The Marawi siege started on May 23, 2017, and ended five months later. More than 900 Maute Group terrorists were killed by the military in the war.