MARAWI, Philippines (AP) — Smoke wafted from the smoldering carcasses of buildings and houses, with the dome of a mosque blasted out with holes, as Philippine troops battled Thursday to defeat a final stand by the last dozens of pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city.
The desolate war scene, which was witnessed by Associated Press journalists on board a navy patrol gunboat in Lake Lanao, could herald what the government hopes will be the end of a nearly five-month siege by the militants in Marawi city.
Filipino troops killed 13 more suspected militants Wednesday night, including a top Malaysian terror suspect although his body hasn’t been recovered yet, Philippine military officials said.
“Our troops are continuing their assault,” army Col. Romeo Brawner said after his news conference in Marawi was disrupted by loud explosions reverberating from the final area of battle, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
Sporadic fighting continued even after President Rodrigo Duterte visited the battle-scarred Islamic city on Tuesday and announced its liberation, sparking hopes that hundreds of thousands of residents could begin returning home. The speed of their return, however, will depend on how quickly the city is declared safe of militants and rebuilt.
A day earlier, defense officials announced that two of the last leaders of the siege — Isnilon Hapilon, who is one of the FBI’s most-wanted terror suspects, and Omarkhayam Maute — were killed in a gunbattle.
Military spokeman Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Malaysian Mahmud bin Ahmad was believed among 13 militants killed overnight and another seven in the morning. Six soldiers were slightly injured in the fighting.
Two civilian hostages — a mother and her teenage daughter — were also rescued, Padilla said.
He said the information about Mahmud was based on what the rescued mother and daughter told the military.
Mahmud, who uses nom de guerre Abu Handzalah, is a close associate of Hapilon. Military officials said he had linked up Hapilon with the Islamic State group and provided funding to bankroll the siege of Marawi.
Padilla said troops discovered that there may be more militant fighters remaining in a small battle area than earlier estimated.
Marawi, a mosque-studded center of Islamic faith in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, has been devastated by the siege by the militants who waved IS-style black flags and hung them on buildings they had occupied in Marawi’s business district and outlying areas, according to the military.
The insurrection prompted the military to launch a ground offensive and airstrikes, with the United States and Australia later backing the troops by deploying surveillance aircraft. Duterte declared martial law across the south, the homeland of minority Muslims and the scene of a decades-old separatist rebellion, to deal with the uprising and prevent other insurgents from waging attacks elsewhere and reinforcing the fighters in Marawi.
The surprise occupation of the city and the involvement of foreign fighters set off alarms in Southeast Asia. Analysts said parts of the southern Philippines were at risk of becoming a new base for IS as it lost territory to international forces in Iraq and Syria.
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AP