Marawi (Philippines): Militants occupying parts of a southern Philippine city used a water route to bring in ammunition and evacuate wounded fighters, helping them withstand a five-week military offensive, the army said on Tuesday.
The extremists fighting under the black banner of the Daesh group have remained holed up in pockets of Marawi, weathering daily air and artillery bombardment and deadly urban street battles.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera said the route was discovered following the arrest of a man who used a boat to smuggle ammunition into the battle zone and ferry wounded militants out.
The military was able to cut off the “logistical and medical highway” across Lake Lanao, he said, adding that boat patrols on the lake have been bolstered.
“We found out that this man ... is the one facilitating the entry of ammunition. He is also the person bringing wounded fighters from the main battle area toward the south of Lanao Lake,” Herrera told reporters.
“This is good news because we have now blocked this highway.”
Meanwhile, civilians held hostage by militants occupying a southern Philippine city have been forced by their captors to loot homes, take up arms against government troops and serve as sex slaves for rebel fighters, the army said on Tuesday, citing accounts of seven residents of Marawi City who either escaped or were rescued.
“So this is what is happening inside, this is very evident ... these are evil personalities,” military spokesman Jo-Ar Herrera told a news conference.
Their accounts, which could not be immediately verified, are the latest harrowing stories to come out of a conflict zone that the military has been unable to penetrate for five weeks, as well-armed and organised rebels fight off soldiers with sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Some escapees say bodies of residents have been left in the streets, some for weeks, and civilians are distressed by government air strikes and artillery bombardments that have reduced parts of Marawi to rubble.
The rebels’ combat capability, access to heavy weapons and use of foreign fighters has raised fears in the mainly Catholic country that the Marawi battle could just be the start of a wider campaign, and be presented by Maute as a triumph to aid their recruitment efforts.
Heavy clashes broke out on Tuesday as the battle entered its sixth week, with intense bombings by planes on a shrinking rebel zone.
The military’s public relations machine has been insisting that the rebel leadership was crumbling, saying top commanders had escaped or were killed in action, and the group was fraught with infighting, even executing their own men for wanting to surrender.
Military officers, however, accept they lack solid proof of such developments and were working to verify intelligence reports.
The army said there were reported sightings of the departure from the battle of Isnilon Hapilon, Daesh’s anointed Southeast Asian “emir”, which Abella said showed he was not committed to his cause.
“It would be a clear sign of his cowardice,” Abella said of Hapilon.
“It may only be a matter of time before they disintegrate.”
Fighting has raged in the town since an operation to arrest Hapilon went wrong on May 23, leading to the government losing not just Hapilon, but control of Marawi.
Official figures show 70 servicemen, 27 civilians and 290 militants have since been killed and 246,000 people displaced.
