Philippine City Under Attack by Islamic Militant Groups

The southern Philippine City of Marawi is under attack by two Islamist insurgencies: Abu Sayyaf and the Maute group. In the fight between these rebels and the Philippine military, more than 200 people have been killed. Marawi is the largest predominantly Muslim city in the Philippines, a country that is over 90 percent Roman Catholic.

The rebels are hiding out in mosques and madrasas and using them as a location to place their snipers. This strategic placement has left the Philippine military in a difficult situation as these buildings are protected as cultural monuments and are not supposed to be destroyed in combat.

The Philippine army uses helicopters and other aircraft to drop bombs on the city twice a day to crack down on the rebels. However, the group still has control over the southeast region of the city where its business center once was.

The leader of Abu Sayyaf, Isnilon Hapilon, has been appointed by the Islamic State as the leader of operations in Southeast Asia. He is on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list for a reward of $5 million. The Maute group is led by two brothers named Abdullah Maute and Omarkhayam Maute. The government has cracked down and declared martial law for 60 days on Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines and a center for many Islamic rebel groups. Checkpoints have been set up around the island which is how the Maute brothers’ mother, father, and other relatives were arrested. The government is still on look out for militants trying to slip out of Marawi.

The rebels have been posting videos online showing that they are winning the battle in Marawi. Recent footage depicts men firing weapons from buildings and then turns to an execution scene where six men are handcuffed are shot with machine guns. Zia Alonto Adiong, a military spokesman in Marawi, said the scene of men firing weapons could be in Marawi but the executions appear to be footage taken from elsewhere due to the orange shirts that the six men were wearing. He states, “nobody wears that here as a regular outfit.”

The narrator of the video states, “Twenty-one days since Islamic State fighters breached the city of Marawi in the Philippines, intense battles are still raging in its center, and Islamic State fighters are spread out over more than two-thirds of the area, tightening the noose on the Philippine Army, which is unable to take back the initiative.” The narrator of the video also claims that 200 Filipino soldiers have been killed when the actual number is 58 and the majority of the fighting has been reduced to a 500 square meters.

The United States has provided between 50 and 100 Special Forces troops to the Philippines to fight terrorism since the early 2000’s. These troops have trained the Philippine military and offered technical assistance as well as helped select bombing targets. However, there are no American troops in Marawi.

The city of Marawi is home to 200,000 people, many of whom fled the city at the start of the attacks. However, as many as 2,000 civilians remain in this combat zone unable to leave buildings or their homes as gunfire and bombs ravage the city. Those who have been able to flee are in temporary evacuation centers outside of the city and have been checked by police to ensure that they are actually civilians and not rebels. After almost four weeks of fighting, the city lays in ruin and these civilians have little to come back to.

Featured Image Via Wikimedia