A week-long
assault by Islamist rebels in a southern Philippine city is being fueled with
stolen weapons and ammunition and fighters broken out of jails, the military
said
on Wednesday, as troops battled militants resisting ground and air
attacks.
The
pro-Islamic State Maute group has proven to be a fierce enemy, clinging on to
the heart of Marawi City through days of air strikes on what the military
called known rebel targets, defying expectations of a swift end to their
occupation.
The military
on Wednesday deployed for the first time SF-260 close air support planes to
back attack helicopters and ground troops looking to box rebels into a downtown
area. The rebels hold about a tenth of the city, the army said.
Military
spokesman Restituto Padilla said the hardline Maute had kept up the fight with
rifles and ammunition stolen from a police station, a prison, and an armored
police vehicle.
"They
were able to get an armored vehicle of the police," Padilla added.
"Inside, there is a supply of bullets," he said, adding that the
ammunition was among the stolen items the rebels were using to resist the
forces being poured into the area.
The
militants, who freed jailed comrades to join the battle, opted for urban
warfare because arms were available in the city and homes and shops provided
ample supplies of food, Padilla said.
"Yes
indeed, there was planning involved," he added.
The military
has from the outset insisted it has control of the situation, but the slow pace
of efforts to retake Marawi has prompted questions about its strategy.
That has
been compounded by social media images of smiling fighters with assault rifles
posing on an armored, U.S.-made police combat vehicle, dressed in black and wearing
headbands typical of Islamic State.
Another
picture showed a bearded man at the wheel of a police van flying an Islamic
State flag. The authenticity of the images has not been independently verified
and the military has urged the public not to spread "propaganda".
ALARMING
RISE
The Philippine
government has been alarmed by the strength of the Maute and intelligence
reports suggesting it has teamed up with other extremist groups and has
recruited foreign fighters.
President
Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law on Mindanao island where Marawi is
located, in a move to crush a movement he is now calling an Islamic State
invasion.
The military
believe the Maute and its associates staged the Marawi takeover to try to win
Islamic State's endorsement as its affiliate in Southeast Asia.
Eighty-nine
militants, 21 security forces and 19 civilians were killed in the unrest, which
security experts say is a sign extremists in the southern Philippines are now
better organized and funded, pointing to the Maute's rapid rise from obscurity.
In back-channel
talks with the militants, the remaining fighters had been urged to give up,
Padilla said.
"We are
appealing to these armed men to come to their senses, lay down their weapons
and surrender," he said.
The
government on Wednesday said one Mindanao separatist group, which had struck a
yet-to-be-implemented peace deal with it, had agreed to help the military get
civilians, dead or alive, out of Marawi.
The Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has accepted Duterte's unconventional offer for
communist and separatist rebel groups to unite to stop the spread of radical
Islam in the southern Philippines.
Congress
held a special hearing on martial law, which minority bloc lawmakers called an
overreaction by Duterte, made during an overseas trip, and without consulting
security agencies.
His decision
has broad support in the legislature, with some backers urging tough measures
to defeat the enemy.
"With
the military is now admitting ISIS is in the Philippines we have a serious
problem," said congressman Harry Roque, who filed a resolution supporting
martial law.
"ISIS
is not a small problem, it is a very big problem."
For graphic
on battle of Marawi, click: tmsnrt.rs/2qBkSPk
For graphic
on Islamic State-linked groups in Philippine south, click: tmsnrt.rs/2rYIHTj
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