Manila: Residents of the besieged city of Marawi fled in droves as traffic and people clogged the roads leading to the closest urban centre, Iligan City.
People displaced by the heavy fighting that started on Tuesday afternoon, took to social media to air their appeals for food and assistance from the government as they spent hours in gridlocked roadways out of the city.
“We are knocking at the hearts of the local government units and the good people of Saguiran, Pantar and Baloi, if possible they can provide water of bread or even meals. Tens of thousands are still stranded for hours on the road after fleeing from Marawi City and going to Iligan City,” Lininding Drieza, a Marawi City resident whose family fled the fighting, had said in his Facebook post on Wednesday, a day after armed members of the Maute militant group, clashed with government forces.
Drieza lamented that the government had claimed that the situation in Marawi City is under control when in truth, there is chaos and hardship for civilians fleeing the fighting.
“Relief, if there is any, has been very slow because of the clogged roads. Those without vehicles, are forced to bear with the long walk away from the hostilities or stay at home behind closed doors for fear of getting caught in the crossfire,” he said, this time, in a phone interview.
Iligan City is roughly 40 kilometres away from Marawi City.
The mayor of Marawi City, Majul Gandamra said that as of 8am, government forces have had control of the city.
“I cannot say 100 per cent however that the Maute has already left,” reports quoted him as saying.
On Tuesday afternoon fighting erupted between government forces enforcing an arrest warrant for wanted Abu Sayyaf terrorist Isnilon Hapilon and members of the Maute.
The combined forces of the two militant groups set up roadblocks and blocked entrances to the city. A church was also burned together with other buildings including the city jail while Maute snipers took positions.
The fighting initially broke out in the villages of Caloocan and Basak Malatut, but it spread out to other parts of the city.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the Maute had threatened to kill one of the priests seized from the Saint Mary Cathedral in Iligan City, Father Chito Suganob, as well as several other parishioners and church workers.
The Saint Mary Cathedral was burned on Tuesday evening, along with the city jail, a school and a college building.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said three soldiers and a policemen died while 12 others were wounded in the fighting.
By late Tuesday evening, President Rodrigo Duterte, who was in Russia for a state visit, announced that he had placed the entire island of Mindanao under martial law.
Armed forces spokesman Marine Col. Edgard Arevalo said in a press briefing on Wednesday morning that the “situation in Marawi City has stabilised,” and that the group the government forces is confronting is not Daesh.
“Security forces are in full control of the situation. The armed men we are dealing with are not ISIS [Daesh] but members of local terrorist group,” he said.
“The news being circulated by these terrorists and their sympathisers are spurious and are meant to spread lies and disinformation. It is propaganda to attract foreign terrorists’ support and recognition.
He added that more government forces are coming to respond to the situation.
