Fears grow for 2,000 trapped in Marawi as troops battle militants
They are texting us and calling us for help, official says, as army helicopters fire rockets
Army helicopters fired rockets at militants in a southern Philippine city yesterday, as fears grew for up to 2,000 people unable to escape a week of relentless fighting that has left women and children dead.
President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the southern third of the Philippines shortly after the fighting erupted, warning the gunmen were involved in an effort by Daesh terror group to set up a local caliphate.
But street-to-street battles and a military bombing campaign have failed to end the crisis in Marawi, one of the biggest Muslim cities in the mainly Catholic nation, and authorities expressed alarm about those trapped inside the areas under militants’ siege.
“They are texting us and calling us for help,” Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, told AFP, referring to the 2,000 people his office had recorded being unable to leave.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is trying to help those trapped, said people were dying from the extreme conditions and stray bullets.
“When our colleagues speak to them on phone calls, we hear that the situation is very difficult. Food is running out, water is running out, they don’t have electricity,” Martin Thalmann, the deputy head of the ICRC’s Philippine delegation who is in Marawi, told AFP.
“There is intense fighting with small arms. It is really a terrible situation for them... people have died because they were shot and there was no doctor to treat them.” Some 105 people, including 24 civilians, have been killed in six days of fighting, the government said. Many more were believed to be trapped inside the city.
105 people, including 24 civilians, have been killed in six days
Security forces traded heavy gunfire with militants inside a southern Philippine city yesterday, as fears grew for up to 2,000 people unable to escape a week of fighting that has left women and children among the dead.
President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the southern third of the Philippines shortly after the fighting erupted, warning the gunmen were involved in an effort by Daesh to set up a local caliphate.
But street-to-street battles and a relentless military bombing campaign has so far failed to end the crisis in Marawi, one of the biggest Muslim cities in the mainly Catholic Philippines, and authorities expressed alarm about the fate of those trapped.
“They are texting us and calling us for help,” Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, said of the 2,000 people his office had recorded being unable to leave areas held by the militants. “They can’t leave because they are afraid of running into checkpoints put up by the gunmen.”
Authorities said the gunmen had already murdered at least 19 civilians, including women and children, while 17 members of the security forces had died in the clashes and 61 militants were killed.
Eight bodies were found on Sunday morning dumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Marawi, which is normally a bustling city of 200,000 people known as a centre of Islamic culture and education.
Myrna Bandung, a Catholic woman, told reporters at a checkpoint on Monday as she accompanied one of those bodies out of the city that she had been with the eight when they were murdered.
“They did not kill me because I was able to recite a Muslim prayer. The others were not so lucky,” a visibly shocked Bandung said.
Residents flee
Most of the city’s residents had fled to nearby towns.
But adding to the fears for those who remained, the military announced on the weekend that it would intensify a bombing campaign on the areas being held by the militants.
When asked on Monday about fears of civilians being bombed, military spokesman Brigadier general Restituto Padilla told reporters that air strikes would be done with precision.
However, he said the bombings would continue in whichever areas the militants were hiding.
Meanwhile, an AFP reporter heard intense gunfire yesterday afternoon near the main university in Marawi, and saw smoke apparently from a bomb explosion rise up in the distance.
The violence began when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi in response to an attempt by security forces to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of Daesh.