NEWS5 has obtained an exclusive copy of video clips tending to depict the various preliminary moves and planning stages involved in what turned out to be the assault on Marawi City spearheaded by the terrorist Maute Group.
The video includes scenes of reconnoitering by supporters of the perpetrators around different spots of the city of strategic importance, including preliminary scouting of potential sniper vantage points, as well as pointed observations of places such as police outposts and major government offices, and notations on blueprints helped by imaging recorded on a handheld tablet device.
The surveillance and planning appears to have been spearheaded by Isnilon Hapilon, Abdullah and Omar Maute in and around Marawi City.
From their apparent staging base in Barangay Basak, the surveillance team managed to record substantial footages from inside a cruising vehicle, rounding the selected potential spots of interest, including a sampling of alleys and side streets that might prove of importance to the plot to sow terror in the city.
One of the streets pointed out in the video was said to lead straight to the premises housing the “military intelligence”, and on another road, in Tagalog: “that’s where the wall of the brigade starts. There.”
Distances from one spot to another spot were noted, such as to the brigade command outpost of the military, as well as repeat passes to rummage out how the possible routes of attack by Maute’s fighters might be executed.
An overhead concrete water tank was specifically singled out as a potential nest for a sniper, and where a cctv installation is located.
Even the access ways toward the Mindanao State University was the subject of detailed scrutiny, including the side streets around the proximity of the campus.
The quarters, too, of certain police and CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit) were not spared from surveillance, to include houses that were actually armories.
Much of the recorded voice narrative was in Tagalog, and the depth and breath of information regarding government installations appeared to be remarkable, including information about a certain house that appeared to be that of the mayor of the city.
Click and watch the video report below:
