Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Duterte orders troops to crush militants in Marawi city

1031018
1031018
minus
plus

Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday ordered his troops to crush militants in a besieged southern city, where fighting entered its third week, even if it meant destroying everything.


“Let us finish this war,” he told soldiers as troops bombarded suspected militant positions in Marawi City, 800 kilometres south of Manila. “I have lost many soldiers. Many police officers have also died. We have crossed the bridge already.”


“I am ordering you to crush the enemies,” Duterte said. “When I say crush them, we have to destroy everything, including lives.”


Earlier, police and soldiers arrested the father of two brothers, who head a local terrorist group that has pledged allegiance to IS and whose militants are fighting in Marawi City.


Cayamora Maute was apprehended at a checkpoint in Davao City, 960 kilometres south of Manila, with one of his wives, a daughter and brother-in-law, said Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, a regional police director.


The elderly Maute is included in the wanted list issued by the government since his two sons, Abdullah and Omar, led hundreds of militants in a rampage in Marawi City on May 23 when government forces attempted to arrest a local IS leader.


More than 180 people, most of them militants, have been killed in the violence, which has displaced nearly 190,000 residents from the municipality of more than 200,000 people.


Photos from rescue teams who were able to enter the conflict area showed the massive destruction from the fighting — dozens of buildings either torched or shattered by artillery fire or bombs,their rooftops torn off.


Debris of crushed cement and twisted steel or iron sheets littered the streets. A toppled electric post crashed on an abandoned truck,the photos showed.


Only 10 per cent of Marawi City is still under the control of an estimated 100 militants, but the area has “the most number of buildings,” said military chief General Eduardo Ano.


“There was heavy fighting since last night and our offensive is unrelenting,” he told Manila radio station DZMM. “In a few days, we will be able to clear the entire Marawi City.”


On Monday, troops seized cash worth more than 52 million pesos ($1.06 million) from a house turned by militants into a machine gun-post and sniper nest, said Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera, an army brigade spokesman.


“This shows that these local terrorists are well connected,” he told a press conference in Marawi City. “They have supporters, they have sympathizers and they have links to international terrorist organisations.”


Herrera said the military had requested the assistance of financial analysts to determine the source of the cash, which was recovered along with bank cheques worth more than 20 million pesos.


Major Rowan Rimas, operations chief of a marines task force involved in the fight against the militants, said the recovery of the cash also indicates that the militants were already on the run.


“It’s true that the group is well funded, and they are very capable... of sustaining this fight,” he said. “But the recovery of the cash indicates that they’re running because the government troops are pressing in.”


Duterte has offered a 10-million-peso cash reward for the arrest or death of the alleged leader of the IS in the Philippines, Isnilon Hapilon, who is also wanted by the United States.


He also offered a bounty of 5 million pesos for each of the brothers,Abdullah and Omar Maute, who head the group named after their surname that has pledged allegiance to the IS and is protecting Hapilon.


Duterte declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao on May 23 to boost the military’s offensive against the militants.


A majority of the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which by law can review and revoke martial law proclamations, have expressed support for the declaration, which is effective for 60 days.


— dpa


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon