MARAWI CITY: Philippine troops were locked in an intense urban firefight on Sunday with the last remnants of a pro-Daesh alliance, as the army sought to declare an end to the country’s biggest internal security crisis in years.
An estimated 30 people, including militants and some of their family members, were battling to hold a fortified, two-story building next to Marawi City’s vast Lake Lanao, and appeared ready to fight to the death, according to the deputy commander of the operation.
“There’s just one building and they’re inside,” Col. Romeo Brawner told a news conference.
“We believe these are ones who decided to fight it out, because they believe that if they die there they will go to Heaven.”
Brawner said soldiers were using loudspeakers to urge them to surrender, and anticipated the gunfight could go on until midnight. They did not know how many people in the building were alive or dead, he said.
The siege of Marawi has stunned the Philippines and stoked wider concerns that Daesh loyalists have learned how to thrive in impoverished Muslim areas of the island of Mindanao and use its jungles and mountains as staging posts to launch attacks.
Those fears are compounded by the Marawi rebels’ ability to recruit young fighters, stockpile huge amounts of arms and endure five months of ground offensive and government air strikes that have devastated the city.
The military made a significant gain with last week’s killing of Isnilon Hapilon, Daesh’s “emir” in Southeast Asia and Omarkhayam Maute, a leader of the Maute militant group.
Another leader and possible bankroller of the operation, Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad, was likely killed also, the military said.
Brawner said the authorities believed foreign operatives were among those still fighting and it was clear there was now a leadership vacuum.
“At this point we don’t know who is really the leader,” he added.
“Our government forces will try to do everything to finish the firefight today.”
Troops have started a phased withdrawal and the authorities may soon allow some residents to return to homes not damaged by the fighting, which displaced at least 300,000 people.
More than 1,000 have been killed, mostly militants.
The government estimates the rebuilding of Marawi could cost at least 50 billion pesos.
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Fierce firefight as Philippines’ toughest urban war down to last building
Fierce firefight as Philippines’ toughest urban war down to last building
Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’
- Tehran has blamed the US for the strike, which happened in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province on Feb. 28
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on a school in the southern town of Minab.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.
Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.
Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.
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