Battle for Marawi resumes after 4-hour lull; 179 freed

A FOUR-HOUR humanitarian ceasefire on Sunday allowed the rescue of 179 residents trapped by the fighting between Maute group terrorists and government troops in Marawi City, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said.

Padilla said two people were injured, however, when fighting occurred during the temporary lull.

“There were skirmishes that occurred during the humanitarian pause this morning. Third party facilitators helped orchestrate and manage the humanitarian ceasefire. Around 179 trapped civilians were rescued today,” he said.

The ceasefire ended at noon.

Some 120 Maute terrorists and 38 government troops and policemen have been killed in fighting that broke out May 23 in Marawi City. The terrorists also executed 19 civilians.

Government forces have bombarded Marawi with air strikes and waged fierce street-to-street battles with hundreds of gunmen since they began a rampage through residential areas waving the black flags of the Islamic State. 

Authorities said Sunday they had finally been able to negotiate a ceasefire with the militants to allow those trapped to be released, although continued fighting throughout the morning meant it was not put into place as hoped.

“There are 2,000 people who need immediate help [after] 13 days without food,” Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, said.

“We do not know if the ceasefire has been breached,” he said, adding that a sudden surge in fighting had hampered the rescue efforts. 

Scores of people made a daring dash for safety on Saturday, including one of Marawi’s most respected politicians who had hidden 71 Christians in his home and led 144 people through downtown streets strewn with rotting corpses.

The militants behind the violence in Marawi mostly belong to a local group called the Maute and the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom gang which had pledged allegiance to IS and rejected official peace talks. 

Sunday’s ceasefire was initially reached following a meeting last week between President Rodrigo Duterte and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the nation’s biggest rebel organization which offered to broker a halt in hostilities using contacts with the fighters in Marawi, Adiong told dzBB radio. 

Unarmed MILF rebels had a four-hour window until noon to take civilians to safety, government rescue coordinator Naguib Sinarimbo said.

But an Agence France-Presse reporter said there was a sudden burst of gunfire and an explosion as rescue teams were entering the city. 

A Muslim separatist rebellion in Mindanao has killed more than 120,000 people since the 1970s. 

The MILF has signed accords with the government aimed at forging lasting peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy.

But small hardline groups, including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf, have refused to negotiate and sought to unite behind IS.

The clashes in Marawi erupted when security forces raided a house to arrest Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, regarded as IS’s leader in the Philippines. He is on the US government’s list of most-wanted terrorists.

Authorities said they were taken by surprise when many gunmen emerged to protect Hapilon and then went on a rampage through Marawi, which has a population of 200,000.

Shortly after the violence erupted Duterte imposed martial law across Mindanao, home to 20-million people, to quell what he said was an IS bid to establish a base in the Philippines.

PNA