AFP: Marawi liberation announcement not premature

MANILA, Philippines — As far as the military is concerned, the government did not prematurely declare Marawi City liberated from Islamic State-linked militants despite “stragglers” holed up in some pockets of the city.

“Yung mga naiiwan diyan na stragglers, they are leader-less, they have no direction, they are merely fighting for survival,” Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a press conference on Friday.

“So they have no impact on the overall security of the place,” Padilla added.

The Marawi battle, which broke out on May 23, prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to place the entire Mindanao region under martial law and order aerial bombing of the enemies’ positions, sending them into retreat but leaving the city in ruins.

On October 19, Duterte, in a rousing address to soldiers, declared Lanao del Sur’s capital liberated from pro-ISIS extremists a day after terrorist leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute were killed in a targeted pre-dawn military operation.

READ: Duterte declares Marawi freed from terrorists

Four days after the president’s declaration, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced an end to combat operations in Marawi, saying the city is now free from Islamist terrorists after five months of fighting that gave troops their first taste of urban warfare.

READ: Lorenzana: No more militants in Marawi City

But early this week, a suspected Indonesian fighter who was nabbed for joining the band of terrorists that overran Marawi revealed there were still up to 39 stragglers in the battle area.

Members of the Barangay Peace Action Team (BPAT) initially intercepted the suspect as he was trying to leave the besieged city and immediately turned him over to military and police.

According to Padilla, authorities are “trying to restrict” Marawi in order to contain the remaining militants attempting to escape the city.

“That is why we are taking all the pains. Kaya kami nag-iingat na walang makakatakas na isa diyan dahil ganito kalaki ang maaaring gawin na kasamaan o pinsala nito kung saka-sakaling makatakas at maghihiganti ito sa ibang lugar,” he said.