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Monday. September 18, 2017
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MANILA – The military said on Sunday it had captured the command center of Islamic State group supporters who besieged Marawi City for nearly four months.
A government peace adviser, meanwhile, said a priest was reportedly one of the Maute group hostages the state troops rescued on Saturday evening but a military official said they were still verifying this.
Security forces have engaged in ferocious street to street combat and launched airstrikes in their efforts to expel the fighters from Marawi, in a conflict that has raised fears that IS is looking to establish a Southeast Asian base in the country.
The military said it had captured the militants’ control center in a deadly battle that began Saturday in a mosque and another building.
“This enormous (military) gain further weakened the terrorist group by denying them their erstwhile command and control hub,” General Eduardo Año, chief of staff of the Armed Forces, said in a statement.
“As follow up and clearing operations continue, we expect the enemy to yield more previously occupied positions, but not without a fight,” he said. “We are ready for that.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said he learned from the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corp. – Industrial Authority administrator Franklin Quijano about the rescue of Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob.
Suganob, vicar-general of the prelate of St. Mary Church in Marawi, was one of the 240 individuals taken hostage by the Maute group.
Weeks later, Suganob appeared in the video, appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to give in to the demands of the extremists and withdraw government forces from Marawi and the entire Lanao del Sur.
According to Dureza, Suganob and another hostage were rescued near Bato Mosque, the second grand mosque in Marawi that had been taken over by government troops.
Maute fighters were forced to abandon Bato Mosque, where some of the hostages were allegedly placed, as soldiers continue to press forward, said Dureza.
Colonel Edgard Arevalo, public affairs chief of the Armed Forces, said they are still validating the information.
“The rescue operation is still ongoing so we cannot give information as of now,” Arevalo said. “We will release a statement once it is confirmed.”
Hundreds of armed extremists flying the black flag of the Islamic State movement in the Middle East occupied Marawi, the Islamic capital of the mainly Catholic Philippines, on May 23.
More than 800 militants, government troops and civilians have since been killed in the conflict, which has forced thousands to flee their homes and destroyed large parts of the once-bustling city.
President Rodrigo Duterte has deployed thousands of troops and imposed martial law across Mindanao to deal with the crisis, while the military has launched a United States-backed air campaign against the militants. (Agence France-Presse and Adrian Stewart Co/PN)
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