THE government will launch fewer airstrikes in the coming days and push the ground assault on rebel holdouts in Marawi City, a military spokesman said Sunday.
“We will still call down airstrikes where needed, but we will avoid them as the fighting gets up close,” Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said in Filipino.
Padilla said the Philippine flag would be flown over the city’s capitol to mark Independence Day, though it seemed likely that the military would miss its target to clear the entire city of Maute group terrorists by Monday as fighting continued.
As fighting continued onto the third week, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana vowed that the government would use “extreme power” to decimate the Maute group terrorists.
“There is an extreme necessity to employ armor, artillery and air capabilities in support of our infantry units to breach the fortified walls, decks and underground [tunnels] of buildings constructed to be virtual fortresses,” Lorenzana said.
Also on Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was not aware that US troops were providing technical assistance to Filipino soldiers combatting the Maute terrorists in Marawi City.
Duterte, who has distanced the country from Washington, said he did approach the Americans for help.
“I was not aware of that until they arrived,” Duterte said during a press briefing.
The Palace said Saturday that the US forces were providing only technical assistance, and were not involved in the actual fighting.
In Marawi City, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon and foreign terrorists were likely holed up in a heavily fortified village where 13 Marines were killed in a 16-hour clash Friday night and Saturday morning, Padilla said.
Padilla added that they believe the terrorists were holding civilian hostages in the same village.
Foreign fighters could have already been in Mindanao before fighting broke out in Marawi on May 23, and were ready to reinforce the Maute group terrorists when they rampaged through the city, Padilla said.
On Sunday, the death toll on the government side was 58, while an estimated 138 militants were killed. Maute group gunmen also killed 21 civilians during their attack.
Some 1,613 residents in the war-torn city have been rescued, military officials said.
In Pantar, Lanao del Norte, four Maute group members were killed after a police patrol car was ambushed by unidentified gunmen.
The four killed had been arrested along with the mother of the Maute brothers who head the terrorist group fighting in Marawi.
Police said the four were being transported to Cagayan de Oro City for inquest proceedings when the patrol car was attached.
The four suspects were pronounced dead after they were taken to hospital. Three police officers were also wounded during the ambush.
As government troops closed in on Marawi City holdouts, state security officers were monitoring the movement of rebel groups and Islamist extremists in anticipation of terror attacks in urban areas.
A security official who requested anonymity said Islamic State-inspired extremists were planning terror attacks in Davao, some areas of Maguindanao and Cotabato City, as well as the cities of Zamboanga, Lamitan and General Santos.
Abu Sayyaf attacks in Palawan were also a possibility, the security official said. With Sandy Araneta