Military close to driving out rebels

The Philippine military said on Monday it was close to retaking a southern city held for a seventh day by Islamist militants, as helicopters unleashed more rockets on positions held by the rebels aligned with Islamic State.

The occupation of Marawi city by the Maute, a group hardly heard of a year ago, has become the biggest security challenge of Rodrigo Duterte’s 11-month presidency, with gunmen resisting air and ground assaults and controlling central parts of a city of 200,000 people.

‘Sympathetic elements’

The military said the rebels may be getting help from “sympathetic elements” and fighters they had freed from jail during the rampage that started on Tuesday and caught the military by surprise. “Our ground commanders have assured that the end is almost there,” military spokesman Restituto Padilla told reporters. “We’re trying to isolate all these pockets of resistance.”

More than 100 people have been killed, most of them militants, according to the military, and most of the city’s residents have fled.

The military said the Maute group was still present in nine of the city’s 96 barangays, or communities.

The Maute’s ability to fight off the military for so long will add to fears that Islamic State’s radical ideology is spreading in the southern Philippines and it could become a haven for militants from southeast Asia and beyond. Malaysians and Indonesians were among the rebels killed.

The government believes the Maute carried out their assault before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to capture the attention of Islamic State and earn recognition as a regional affiliate.

According to witnesses, men with black headbands typical of Islamic State have been seen on city streets in recent days. A photograph taken by a resident shows 10 men carrying assault rifles and dressed entirely in black. A Reuters photographer saw an Islamic State flag in an oil drum in an abandoned street on Monday, where chickens roamed in front of damaged shops and homes.

Nearby Iligan City was in lockdown over fears that Maute fighters had sneaked out of Marawi by blending in with civilians.