Residents of Marawi City on Tuesday afternoon took to Twitter to relay the tense situation there, corroborating reports that gunshots reverberated through villages in Barangay Basak Malulut in Marawi City as suspected gunmen of the Maute terrorist group and elements of the Philippine Army 1st Infantry Division clashed there in a military operation, sending Maranaws running for their lives, a news dispatch from the Philippine Star indicated.
In a report filed by John Unson, the Philstar report cited Philippine National Police (PNP) Senior Supt Oscar Nantes, director of the Lanao del Sur provincial police, as indicating that the scene of the encounter is not too distant from their headquarters and the campus of the Mindanao State University.
The clash in Marawi broke out in connection with a law enforcement operation conducted jointly by elements of the AFP and PNP to serve a warrant of arrest to Isnilon Hapilon, one of the top-tier leaders of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group and his followers who have made Marawi a de-facto hive of their terrorist activities.
“We can hear automatic gunshots from where we are,” Nantes told The STAR at exactly 3:20 p.m. Tuesday.
The Head of Delegation in the Philippines of International Committee of the Red Cross Pascal Porchet issued a statement:
“We are extremely concerned about the impact of the ongoing hostilities in Marawi City on the civilians. We urge all parties to the conflict to spare civilians and respect civilian property, such as hospitals and schools, in fulfillment of their obligations to respect international humanitarian law.”
The clash in Marawi was a spin-off of a law enforcement operation carried out jointly by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP to serve a warrant of arrest to Isnilon Hapilon, one of the top-tier leaders of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group and his followers who have made Marawi a de-facto hive of their terrorist activities.
Local officials also told The STAR loud explosions rocked the barangay as members of the Maute terror group and soldiers traded shots.
“The Maute group is also known as the Dawlah Islamiya Philippines, which espouses hatred to non-Muslims. It also boasts of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and uses the black ISIS flag as its revolutionary banner,” Philstar added.
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