Philippine forces struggle to drive out extremists

MARAWI, Philippines — Militants loyal to the Islamic State group stubbornly resisted as government troops pushed on Monday to drive them out of Marawi, a city in the southern Philippines where hundreds of desperate residents remained trapped by the fighting.

Troops have so far cleared about half the city of extremists from the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups and the foreign fighters backing them, but the insurgents have broken up into small groups and have proved elusive, according to the Lanao del Sur provincial government.

The military’s struggle to drive out the rebels has become a major challenge for the government of President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law in the region last week and vowed to defeat the insurgents.

There were signs that the battle was turning into a siege. Mr. Alonto said the province had imposed a nightly curfew and called on civilians to help the military fight and subdue the militants.

“Government forces are allowing citizens’ arrests,” he told reporters in Marawi. “We are calling on those who can to help us.”

Marawi once bustled with a population of 200,000. It is now nearly a ghost town.

The crisis appears to be spilling over to the nearby city of Iligan, where people fleeing the fighting have taken refuge while fearing that insurgents could be hiding among them.

“Iligan City is now overflowing, crowded, because it is the choke point, the gateway in and out of Marawi,” said Col. Alex Aduca, an army infantry commander. “… We are carefully screening everyone, including evacuees, to make sure none of the rebels gets past us in disguise.”

At least 61 militants, 20 government troops and 19 civilians have been killed.

Hostilities erupted last week when the military and the police moved to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, IS’s anointed leader in the Philippines and head of an Abu Sayyaf faction. They were met by a force of about 100 militant fighters, including heavily armed insurgents from the allied Maute group. The military has said that militants from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were also taking part in the clashes.

The Maute fighters quickly took over much of the city, burning a cathedral and a hospital and kidnapping a Roman Catholic priest and several people whose fates remained unknown. They then spread out, engaging troops in running gunbattles.