Philippine forces retake most parts of besieged Marawi city

The Philippines military has retaken most parts of Marawi city in the southern region from Maute militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, an official said on Monday.

"The armed forces, police and all our forces are in complete control of the city except for certain areas," Xinhua news agency quoted Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesman for the armed forces, as saying.

Contrary to news reports that militants have gained control of the city, Padilla stressed the government troops were "in full control" of the besieged city, "meaning to say we can control who comes in and who comes out, who moves around and who doesn't, and we're trying to isolate all these pockets of resistance that have remained".

However, Padilla said there was still a need to continue the military "surgical air strikes" to flush out the militants.

He said the military cannot stop the offensive at this point "because if we do not employ combat power as we need it and (in the end) we would prolong the clearing process and endanger more lives".

Padilla expressed hope that the crisis will end soon.

"We do not have a timeline but we're seeking to end this as soon as possible," Padilla said. He said the military ground commanders "have assured that the end is almost there".

"We hope to get clear results. We have complete control of the city by the way contrary to what is coming out in social media and other information. It is not true that half of the city is controlled by the rebels, totally untrue," he reiterated.

Gen. Eduardo Ano, the chief of staff, said in a statement that the Maute militants initially planned to burn the whole city.

He said the plan was aborted when government troops and the police forces raided the militants hideout last week.

"It is a challenge for us to prevent enemy reinforcements from coming to the city as they may also disguise themselves as civilians," another military official said.

He said the military has intensified its check point operations to spot those militants who may try to escape by blending with the evacuees.

He said the military has rescued 390 civilians during its clearing operations. Media reports also showed footage of hostages who reportedly managed to escape.

Army Colonel Alex Aduca said Iligan city, where Marawi's some 200,000 residents have evacuated, is also on lockdown on Monday over fears that militants from Marawi city might also sneak in.

He said the move was to make sure that no militants were able to infiltrate the city.

However, Aduca said Iligan city was still "open", adding the military was just "intensifying the security operations" to prevent the militants from sneaking into the city.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines on Tuesday night, vowed to crush the IS-linked militants that tried to occupy the city last week to carve out a caliphate out of Mindanao.

The violence that broke out on May 23 on the southern island left almost 100 people dead, the military said.

--IANS

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