MARAWI CITY – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) acknowledged Friday the possibility that some of the Islamist militants from the terrorist Maute Group who stormed this Islamic City last month have mingled with evacuees to slip away during the battle that has raged for nearly four weeks.
‘We’re not denying that there’s probably a few who may have slipped along with the evacuees from Marawi going to Iligan and Cagayan de Oro,’ the Armed Forces spokesman says.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, AFP Spokesman, said security has been tightened in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro and the authorities there were on the lookout for suspicious characters who might “attempt to sow some confusion or sow terror”.
“We’re not denying that there’s probably a few who may have slipped along with the evacuees from Marawi going to Iligan and Cagayan de Oro,” Padilla told journalists in Manila, even as OV-10 Bronco aircraft in Marawi pounded an area where militants have been holed up since May 23.
The military indicated that up to 200 fighters, most of them from local insurgent groups that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State plus also some foreign fighters, are holding out, using civilians as human shields and mosques as safe havens.
The attempt by hundreds of well-armed militants to overrun and seal off the city has alarmed governments across Southeast Asia, which fear that Islamic State – losing ground in Iraq and Syria – is trying to establish a foothold in this region that could bring on a rash of extremist violence.
The defense ministers and military chiefs of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are to meet in the Indonesian town of Tarakan, on Borneo island, on Monday to discuss the threat and agree on steps to coordinate better to confront terrorism.
A port town, Tarakan is just south of the Malaysian side of Borneo and looks out across the sea to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, a sprawling island that has been plagued by insurgencies and banditry for decades.
Padilla claimed that talk of fighters planning attacks in neighboring towns was based on “misinformation that’s being spread by the enemies” and in fact their capacity was severely reduced.
In a battle assessment on Friday, the military said those still in the town were also weakening.
Previous deadlines to defeat the insurgents have been missed.
More than 300 people have been killed in the battle for Marawi, according to official estimates, including 225 militants, 59 soldiers and 26 civilians.
