13 Marines killed in Marawi fighting

MANILA, Philippines - Thirteen Marines have been killed in 14 hours of gunbattle with Maute militants in Marawi City since Friday, officials said yesterday.

Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, the Army’s 1st Infantry Battalion spokesman, said 40 other troops were wounded in the firefight.

“We are saddened with the result... we have fatalities on the government side. We have incurred 13 killed in action,” Herrera said at a news conference in Marawi.

He said about 30-40 militants used civilians as human shields, making it hard for troops to operate, and also positioned themselves in the city’s many mosques.

The Marines were conducting a house-to-house search for militants allied with the Islamic State group who are still occupying parts of Marawi when the battle erupted Friday night in Barangay Lilot Madaya in the city’s Bangolo district.

The fresh casualties brought to 58 the number of government troops killed in the fighting, he said.

At least 138 militants and 20 civilians have also been killed.

Herrera said they are validating reports that the brothers Omar and Abdullah leading the Maute group were killed during the battle to control Marawi.

“We are still awaiting confirmation. We are still validating those reports but there are strong indications,” he said.

A radio report said among those killed was Army 1Lt. Frederick Sabillano, the commander of the group that discovered the P52-million cash hidden in one of the hideouts of the Maute gunmen earlier this week.

Reports also said the militants laid down heavy fire on the troops with RPGs and snipers while detonating IEDs along the expected route of the government attack.

For two weeks, the government forces have been trying to flush out the Maute militants entrenched in the buildings and houses in the city’s commercial district.

The militants have so far withstood more than two weeks of air and ground assaults by security forces, although the military said they occupy only around 10 percent of the city.

“We draw inspiration and pride from the heroism of our troops engaged in the conflict in Marawi,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Affairs Office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

Arevalo said the Marines were able to fight back and inflicted heavy casualties on the gunmen.

“This temporary setback has not diminished our resolve a bit. It instead primed up our determination to continue our prudent advances to neutralize the enemy, save innocent lives trapped in the fighting and set the conditions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi,” Arevalo said.

The heavy clashes Friday came when government troops are racing against time to clear the city of the Maute gunmen for the scheduled flag-raising ceremony tomorrow, Independence Day.

AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said most of Marawi City has been cleared of the Maute gunmen and the flag-raising ceremonies on Monday will push through.

The military said the aim was to end the siege by Monday and raise the Philippine flag as a symbol that Marawi is not part of the Islamic State.

“As long as we sustain the fight, as long as we are able to destroy the elements of the local terrorist group, we can reach that,” Herrera said of the June 12 target.

President Duterte imposed martial law across the entire region of Mindanao within hours after the fighting broke out in Marawi in the bid to quickly crush the Islamic State-inspired Maute group. – With Roel Pareño, Lino dela Cruz, Gerry Lee Gorit, AFP, AP