Despite 'friendly fire' deaths, military to continue using airstrikes

MANILA, Philippines — Despite another 'friendly fire' incident that killed two soldiers, the Armed Forces will continue using airstrikes to target Islamist militants entrenched in the center of Marawi City, a military spokesperson said.

Surgical air strikes are being used to target and destroy enemy strongholds and battle positions, Lt. Col Jo-ar Herrera, spokesperson for Joint Task Force Marawi, said as he defended the military’s continued use of bombing runs after two soldiers were killed when a bomb went off target on Wednesday noon.

Herrera said that the pilots of the Philippine Air Force are trained and capable of conducting “precise and deliberate” air assaults on the ISIS-inspired militants still holed up in a small portion of Marawi’s downtown district.

Based on the estimates by the Armed Forces, the rebels, whose numbers are dropping, still occupt four villages in Marawi’s business district.

The military spokesman said that the two soldiers killed on Wednesday were crushed by a collapsing building after it was hit by an Air Force bomb that was off its mark.

“Surgical air strikes are very important in our campaign. Napakalaki po ang tulong ng airstrikes especially to destroy enemy strongholds, battle positions,” he said.

The military has already ordered an investigation into this latest incident of “friendly fire,” he said.

On May 31, as government troops struggled to flush Maute rebels out of Marawi, 11 soldiers died when an Air Force plane accidentally dropped a bomb on soldiers engaging militants in urban combat.

Security and defense officials had repeatedly said that the bombing raids used “precision” air strikes and were not harming innocent civilians.

However, the military said that the ordnance used in the May 31 airstrike were regular bombs since the supply of precision-guided munitions had run out.

Herrera also vouched for the capability and competence of Air Force pilots doing the air raids.

“Ang ating mga piloto are very much trained. They are capable to undertake any precise and deliberate [strikes],” he said, adding that the operations showed the “seamless integration” of the military’s air and ground assets.

The military spokesman said that air strikes were needed to destroy the remaining 45 enemy defense positions which are still being occupied by around 70 rebels.

“Ang kalaban natin ay nagra-range more or less 70. They are still occupying major strongholds and 45 defense positions. Ito yung kailangan natin gamitan ng surgical air strikes. Ito yung malapit na tayo yung sinasabi nating center of gravity,” he said.

The military has already retaken about 200 buildings from Maute fighters in the last 72 hours, a sign that the military is already nearing the group’s 'center of gravity',” Herrera said. In US military doctrine, the center of gravity is the point or hub where power and movement depends and is the point that forces must be concentrated.