Foreign militants join rebel fighters in Philippines

INDONESIANS and Malaysians were among foreign jihadists battling the military in the Philippines, the government claimed yesterday.

The army deployed attack helicopters and special forces to drive fighters from the Isil-linked Maute group out of Marawi City.

Officials say Isil is attempting to exploit the poverty and lawlessness of the predominantly Muslim Mindanao island, to establish a base for extremists from southeast Asia.

“What’s happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens,” solicitor general Jose Calida said.

“It has transmogrified into invasion by foreign terrorists, who heeded the call of ISIS [Isil] to go to the Philippines if they find difficulty in going to Iraq and Syria,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has imposed martial law on Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, to stop the spread of radical Islam.

The Maute, which has pledged allegiance to Isil, held its positions on bridges and buildings yesterday as ground troops launched offensives to flush out the remaining gunmen.

Few of Marawi City’s 200,000 inhabitants remained after militants ran amok, torching schools, a college and a hospital. They freed more than 100 prisoners and took a priest and churchgoers hostage at the city’s cathedral.