{"id":104304,"date":"2017-05-27T01:40:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T05:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=104304"},"modified":"2017-05-27T01:40:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T05:40:07","slug":"philippines-forces-hit-militants-civilians-wave-white-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/27\/philippines-forces-hit-militants-civilians-wave-white-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines forces hit militants; civilians wave white flags"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Philippine military jets fired rockets at militant positions Saturday as soldiers fought to wrest control of a southern city from gunmen linked to the Islamic State group, witnesses said. Civilians waved flags from their windows to show they are not combatants. (Photo: Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee) \/ Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MARAWI, Philippines \u2014 Philippine military jets fired rockets at militant positions Saturday as soldiers fought to wrest control of a southern city from gunmen linked to the Islamic State group, witnesses said. Civilians waved flags from their windows to show they are not combatants.<\/p>\n

The city of Marawi, home to some 200,000 people, has been under siege by IS-linked militants since a failed raid Tuesday night on a suspected hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, who is on Washington’s list of most-wanted terrorists. Isnilon got away and fighters loyal to him took over parts of the city, burning buildings and seizing about a dozen hostages, including a priest. Their condition is unknown.<\/p>\n

The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law in the country’s south, where a Muslim rebellion has raged for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw two jets swoop down and fire at rebel positions repeatedly,\u201d Alexander Mangundatu, a security guard, told The Associated Press in Marawi as a plume of black smoke billowed in the distance. \u201cI pity the civilians and the women who were near the targeted area. They’re getting caught in the conflict and I hope this ends soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said government forces are working to \u201cclear the city of all remnants of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some civilians refused to evacuate because they want to guard their homes, which is slowing down the government operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that’s fine as long as civilians are not hurt,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Duterte ordered his troops to crush the militants, warning that the country is at a grave risk of \u201ccontamination\u201d by the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n

At least 44 people have died in the fighting, including 31 militants and 11 soldiers, officials say. It was not immediately clear whether civilians were among the dead. The violence has forced thousands of people to flee and raised fears of growing extremism.<\/p>\n

Duterte told soldiers in Iligan, a city near Marawi, that he had long feared that \u201ccontamination by ISIS\u201d loomed in the country’s future, using the acronym for the Islamic State group. \u201cYou can say that ISIS is here already,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He gave his troops a free hand to wrest control of Marawi. \u201cYou can arrest any person, search any house without warrant,\u201d said Duterte, who has been criticized for the deaths of thousands of people in a crackdown on illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

Still, he also offered dialogue to militants who are not on the streets fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can still talk about it,\u201d Duterte said. \u201cBut those who are out-and-out terrorists, and you cannot be convinced to stop fighting, so be it. Let us fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hapilon is still hiding out in the city under the protection of gunmen who are desperately trying to find a way to \u201cextricate\u201d him, the country’s military chief said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, he is still inside (the city),\u201d Gen. Eduardo Ano told the AP. \u201cWe cannot just pinpoint the particular spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Hapilon suffered a stroke after a government airstrike wounded him in January.<\/p>\n

Ano predicted that the military operation will take about a week as soldiers go house to house to clear the city of militants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will make this their cemetery,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to finish this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sign that the long-standing problem of militancy in the south could be expanding, Solicitor General Jose Calida said foreigners were fighting alongside the gunmen in Marawi, including Indonesians and Malaysians.<\/p>\n

Ano also said foreign fighters were believed to be inside, but he was more cautious. \u201cWe suspect that but we’re still validating,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With much of Marawi a no-go zone, confusion reigned. One local police chief told the AP on Friday that he was fine \u2014 two days after Duterte announced he had been beheaded by militants.<\/p>\n

Hapilon, an Islamic preacher, is a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2014. He also heads an alliance of at least 10 smaller militant groups, including the Maute, which have a heavy presence in Marawi and were instrumental in fighting off government forces in this week’s battles.<\/p>\n

All of the groups are inspired by the Islamic State group, but so far there is no sign of significant, material ties.<\/p>\n

Washington has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Hapilon’s capture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARAWI, Philippines \u2014 Philippine military jets fired rockets at militant positions Saturday as soldiers fought to wrest control of a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":103959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,16,95],"tags":[11066,16762,19600],"class_list":["post-104304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-islamic-state-group","tag-maute-group","tag-white-flags","mauthors-jim-gomez","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}