Islamist terrorists occupying a southern Philippine city have forced nearly 400,000 people in the wider area to flee their homes, officials said as they warned of disease outbreaks and psychological trauma among refugees.

The city of Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been reduced to a ghost town after self-styled followers of the Islamic State movement launched an assault on the city on May 23.

For more than a month, the government has deployed jet fighters, attack helicopters and armored vehicles to crush the militants who are members of the so-called Maute group.

The fighting has left over 400 people dead, while the Maute fighters still control parts of the city, using snipers and improvised explosive devices to slow the military’s advance.

Out of 389,300 who have fled, over 70,380 people have been housed in 79 government-run evacuation centers, while the rest have sheltered with their relatives, according to social welfare department figures.

Liza Mazo that relief officials have struggled to deal with outbreaks of illness at the evacuation centers as government forces continue to launch air strikes and artillery barrages against the militants.

“There are alarming cases of skin diseases and gastroenteritis. We want to control the outbreak, not just in the evacuation center but even the home-based (refugees),” she said.

“There are also cases of psychological trauma from the fighting.”

Some 26 people who have fled Marawi have since died in hospitals from various ailments, according to the health department’s local spokesman Jun Galban, but he declined to say whether their deaths were related to the evacuation.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law over the southern Philippines to deal with the crisis, vowed on Saturday that government forces would crush the extremists.

“We will not go out there (Marawi) until the last terrorist is executed,” he said in a speech to government workers.

But he conceded, “we are having a hard time.”

“We never realized the magnitude of their preparation for their explosives. We got there, they were positioned (with) their snipers. We practically had to climb upward,” he said. </s> Airstrikes were launched against a faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in the marshy areas of the municipalities of Datu Montawal, Pagalungan, Gen. SK Pendatun, and Sultan sa Barongis in the province of Maguindanao, as well as in the municipality of Pikit in the province of North Cotabato on 10 June 2018.

This incident was part of an ongoing operation by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against the BIFF faction led by Esmail Abubakar (aka Commander Bungos), whose group had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).

The operation was coordinated with the MILF ceasefire panel. However, due to time constraints, no pre-emptive evacuation was organized.

A BIFF bomb factory in the southern parts of Liguasan Marsh was reportedly destroyed as a result of this operation. In addition, 15 members of the BIFF faction were killed and 8 were wounded, according to reports. This information was, however, denied by the leadership of the BIFF.

Residents of these areas who were, at that time, taking their preobservance of the Islamic month of Ramadhan were forced to evacuate to safer locations.

Based on the most recent report provided by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office of Maguindanao as of 19 June 2018, 5,136 families (23,465 individuals) have been displaced.

 Most of the displaced are staying with host families, while the rest have settled in designated evacuation sites, such as schools, gyms, and in other community structures. IDPs who are home-based, particularly those in the remote areas, are at risk of being excluded from registration processes.

The government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the ARMM Humanitarian Emergency Action Response Team (ARMM-HEART), DSWD ARMM, and DSWD Region XII are presently working in close coordination with the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils of the affected municipalities within their respective jurisdiction, which have conducted assessments to different displacement sites, to address the displacement.

The displaced population perceive that their displacement may take longer than expected. They have expressed that they will not return until Government troops have pulled out from the area, because they fear that they may be caught in the crossfire.

An undetermined number of civilians residing in the area known as the Salbu, Pagatin, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak (SPMS) Box and in neighboring towns have also pre-emptively evacuated to nearby villages because of fear of a possible escalation of conflict in their areas, triggered by the increasing presence of the military.

There is an advice from the authorities that the IDPs can safely return to their respective residences. However, IDPs have chosen to stay away from their places of origin because of the continued military operations. There are evacuation centers that are vacated, but only because the IDPs have just transferred to other temporary displacement locations. </s> Two thousand fearful civilians were trapped Sunday inside a southern Philippine city where troops are battling Islamist militants, authorities said, as the death toll from almost a week of fighting neared 100. The military intensified a bombing campaign on parts of Marawi on Mindanao island, one of the biggest Muslim cities in the mainly Catholic nation, as it accused the gunmen of atrocities including murdering women and a child.

The initial fighting prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on Tuesday across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat from terrorists linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Most of the city’s 200,000 residents have fled because of the fighting, but 2,000 remain trapped in areas controlled by the militants, according to Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee.

“They have been sending us text messages, calling our hotline, requesting us to send rescue teams but we cannot simply go to areas which are inaccessible to us,” Adiong told AFP. “They want to leave. They are afraid for their safety. Some are running out of food to eat. They fear they will be hit by bullets, by airstrikes,” he said.

The military announced yesterday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, that it would step up the bombing. “In as much as we would like to avoid collateral damage, these rebels are forcing the hand of government by hiding and holding out inside private homes, government buildings and other facilities,” said military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla.

“Their refusal to surrender is holding the city captive. Hence, it is now increasingly becoming necessary to use more surgical airstrikes to clear the city and to bring this rebellion to a quicker end.” The militants have killed at least 19 civilians, including three women and a child who were found dead near a university, regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told AFP.

“These are civilians, women. These terrorists are anti-people,” Herrera said. An AFP photographer saw eight bodies dumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Marawi today, with local residents identifying them as employees of a rice mill and a medical college.

It was unclear whether those eight were included in the military’s count of civilian deaths. Fifteen soldiers, two policemen and 61 militants have died in the fighting, according to authorities. This brings the combined official death toll to at least 97.

The violence began when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi in response to an attempt by security forces to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of IS. The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and has offered a bounty of USD 5 million for his capture.

The gunmen on Tuesday planted black IS flags, took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage from a church, and set fire to buildings. Authorities said yesterday the fate of those hostages remained unknown. Duterte and military chiefs have said most of the militants belong to the local Maute group, which has declared allegiance to IS and which the government estimates has about 260 armed followers.

Duterte has said local criminals are also backing the Maute in Marawi. Cooperation between Islamist militants, criminals and corrupt politicians is common across Mindanao, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has claimed more than 120,000 lives since the 1970s.

The main Muslim rebel groups have signed accords with the government aimed at forging a final peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy. The Maute, Abu Sayyaf and other small hardline groups are not interested in negotiating and have in recent years looked to IS to help them.

Duterte said yesterday he was prepared to enforce martial law for as long as was necessary to end the terrorist threat, and even ignore constitutionally mandated safeguards such as Supreme Court and congressional oversight.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now </s> MARAWI, Philippines: Two thousand fearful civilians were trapped on Sunday (May 28) inside a southern Philippine city where troops are battling Islamist militants, authorities said, as the death toll from almost a week of fighting neared 100.

The military intensified a bombing campaign on parts of Marawi on Mindanao island, one of the biggest Muslim cities in the mainly Catholic nation, as it accused the gunmen of atrocities including murdering women and a child.

The initial fighting prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on Tuesday across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat from terrorists linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Most of the city's 200,000 residents have fled because of the fighting, but 2,000 remain trapped in areas controlled by the militants, according to Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee.

"They have been sending us text messages, calling our hotline, requesting us to send rescue teams but we cannot simply go to areas which are inaccessible to us," Adiong told AFP.

"They want to leave. They are afraid for their safety. Some are running out of food to eat. They fear they will be hit by bullets, by airstrikes," he said.

The military announced on Saturday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, that it would step up the bombing.

"In as much as we would like to avoid collateral damage, these rebels are forcing the hand of government by hiding and holding out inside private homes, government buildings and other facilities," said military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla.

"Their refusal to surrender is holding the city captive. Hence, it is now increasingly becoming necessary to use more surgical airstrikes to clear the city and to bring this rebellion to a quicker end."

, including three women and a child who were found dead near a university, regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told AFP.

"These are civilians, women. These terrorists are anti-people," Herrera said.

An AFP photographer saw eight bodies dumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Marawi on Sunday, with local residents identifying them as employees of a rice mill and a medical college.

It was unclear whether those eight were included in the military's count of civilian deaths.

Fifteen soldiers, two policemen and 61 militants have died in the fighting, according to authorities. This brings the combined official death toll to at least 97.

The violence began when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi in response to an attempt by security forces to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of IS.

The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists and has offered a bounty of US$5 million for his capture.

The gunmen on Tuesday planted black IS flags, took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage from a church, and set fire to buildings. Authorities said Saturday the fate of those hostages remained unknown.

Duterte and military chiefs have said most of the militants belong to the local Maute group, which has declared allegiance to IS and which the government estimates has about 260 armed followers.

Duterte has said local criminals are also backing the Maute in Marawi.

Cooperation between Islamist militants, criminals and corrupt politicians is common across Mindanao, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has claimed more than 120,000 lives since the 1970s.

The main Muslim rebel groups have signed accords with the government aimed at forging a final peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy.

The Maute, Abu Sayyaf and other small hardline groups are not interested in negotiating and have in recent years looked to IS to help them.

Duterte said Saturday he was prepared to enforce martial law for as long as was necessary to end the terrorist threat, and even ignore constitutionally mandated safeguards such as Supreme Court and congressional oversight. </s> Philippine authorities said Sunday they were trying to negotiate a ceasefire in a war-torn southern city to rescue up to 2,000 civilians trapped in areas held by Islamist militants for nearly two weeks.

Government forces have bombarded Marawi with air strikes and waged fierce street-to-street battles with hundreds of gunmen since they began a rampage through residential areas waving the black flags of the Islamic State (IS).

Authorities said Sunday they had finally been able to negotiate a ceasefire with the militants to allow those trapped to be released, although continued fighting throughout the morning meant it was not put into place as hoped.

"There are 2,000 people who need immediate help (after) 13 days without food," Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, told AFP.

"We do not know if the ceasefire has been breached," he said, adding that a sudden surge in fighting had hampered the rescue efforts.

Scores of people made a daring dash for safety on Saturday, including one of Marawi's most respected politicians who had hidden 71 Christians in his home and led 144 people through downtown streets strewn with rotting corpses.

The militants behind the violence in Marawi mostly belong to a local group called the Maute and the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom gang which had pledged allegiance to IS and rejected official peace talks.

Sunday's ceasefire was initially reached following a meeting last week between President Rodrigo Duterte and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's biggest rebel organisation which offered to broker a halt in hostilities using contacts with the fighters in Marawi, Adiong told DZBB radio.

Unarmed MILF rebels had a four-hour window until noon (0400 GMT) to take civilians to safety, government rescue coordinator Naguib Sinarimbo said.

But an AFP reporter said there was a sudden burst of gunfire and an explosion as rescue teams were entering the city.

A Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines has killed more than 120,000 people since the 1970s.

The MILF has signed accords with the government aimed at forging lasting peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy.

But small hardline groups, including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf, have refused to negotiate and sought to united behind IS.

The clashes in Marawi erupted when security forces raided a house to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as IS's leader in the Philippines. He is on the US government's list of most-wanted terrorists.

Authorities said they were taken by surprise when many gunmen emerged to protect Hapilon and then went on a rampage through Marawi, which has a population of 200,000.

Shortly after the violence erupted Duterte imposed martial law across the southern region of Mindanao, home to 20 million people, to quell what he said was an IS bid to establish a base in the mainly Catholic Philippines. </s> DISPLACED. Social workers from the provincial government of Lanao del Sur attend to the need of displaced families in Butig town after armed skirmishes between government forces and the Maute terror group. Photo courtesy of Jennie Tamano, Lanao del Sur PIO

LANAO DEL NORTE, Philippines – A total of 1,955 families have been displaced in Butig town in Lanao del Sur days since the armed skirmishes between government forces and the Maute terror group erupted again.

The local terror group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), occupied Butig's abandoned municipal hall and nearby buildings. It prompted a military offensive to flush them out of the town center. (READ: AFP sends elite troops to retake Lanao town from Maute)

This is the 3rd time this year that the Maute group attacked the town of Butig. They attacked first in February and then in August.

Jennie Tamano, Lanao del Sur provincial information officer, said they have listed a total of 1,955 families displaced since Saturday morning, November 26.

Tamano said they are expecting more residents to be displaced as the military continues its offensive against the local terrorist group. The military said it could take a full week to dislodge the members of the Maute group from Butig.

“We are directed by Governor Soraya Adiong to provide emergency response to the displacement,” said provincial social welfare officer Maharlanny Alonto.

Alonto said residents of the following barangays were displaced: Sandab, Pindolunan, Malungun, and Raya Timbab in Butig; Barangay Wago in Lumbayanague town; and Bayabao town.

“Schools were not spared by the ongoing battles,” Alonto said.

The government has started repacking food supplies and emergency items and is expecting that the situation would become a national concern due to the interruption of classes and displacement of residents. – Rappler.com </s> EVACUEES. Soldiers escort rescued civilians at a village on the outskirts of Marawi on May 31, 2017. Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP

MANILA, Philippines – Local terrorists occupying Marawi City in Lanao del Sur have forced nearly 400,000 people in the wider area to flee their homes, officials said on Saturday, July 1, while warning of disease outbreaks and psychological trauma among refugees.

The city of Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been reduced to a ghost town after self-styled followers of the Islamic State (ISIS) movement launched an assault on the city on May 23.

For more than a month, the government has deployed jet fighters, attack helicopters and armored vehicles to crush the militants who are members of the so-called Maute group. (IN PHOTOS: Death and destruction in Banggolo, heart of Marawi)

The fighting has left over 400 people dead, while the Maute members still control parts of the city, using snipers and improvised explosive devices to slow the military's advance. (READ: Marawi death toll: 82 gov't troops killed, 39 civilians slain)

Liza Mazo, the regional civil defense director, said it was not just the city's residents leaving the area but also people living in the surrounding communities.

Out of 389,300 who have fled, over 70,380 people have been housed in 79 government-run evacuation centers, while the rest have sheltered with their relatives, according to social welfare department figures. (READ: Marawi children need our help)

Mazo said that relief officials have struggled to deal with outbreaks of illness at the evacuation centers as government forces continue to launch air strikes and artillery barrages against the militants.

"There are alarming cases of skin diseases and gastroenteritis. We want to control the outbreak, not just in the evacuation center but even the home-based (refugees)," she said.

"There are also cases of psychological trauma from the fighting," she added.

Some 26 people who have fled Marawi have since died in hospitals from various ailments, according to the health department's local spokesman Jun Galban, but he declined to say whether their deaths were related to the evacuation.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law over Mindanao to deal with the crisis, vowed on Saturday that government forces would crush the extremists.

"We will not go out there (Marawi) until the last terrorist is executed," he said in a speech at the 50th founding anniversary of Davao del Norte.

At one point in his speech, to demonstrate his seriousness, he lifted his shirt to reveal a holstered pistol.

But he conceded, "we are having a hard time."

"We never realized the magnitude of their preparation for their explosives. We got there, they were positioned (with) their snipers. We practically had to climb upward," he said. – Rappler.com </s> The U.S. embassy in Manila confirmed to Reuters that it was offering support, but it released no further information. Reporters near the fighting said they saw a U.S. Navy P3 Orion surveillance plane flying above the city. The aircraft is likely providing intelligence on militant targets, and it soared above Philippine helicopters as they fired rockets into the city. “We don’t have adequate surveillance equipment,” a separate military spokesman told the Associated Press, “so we asked the U.S. military for assistance.”

U.S. special forces have joined the Philippines military in a battle to push out Islamic terrorists who’ve seized a town in the south of the country. Three weeks ago two local extremist groups backed by ISIS, Maute and Abu Sayyaf, took Marawi City. Since then nearly 140 militants and 60 government troops have been killed the fighting, with the battle escalating in the past few days as government troops fight house-to-house. It’s illegal in the Philippines for foreign militaries to aid in actual combat, and on Saturday, military spokesman Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera said U.S. special forces were “just providing technical support.”

The Philippine’s government believes 200 militants are fighting in the city, although they’ve been forced into a few positions in one corner of town. While the Philippines is mostly Christian, the Mindanao region has a large Muslim population, Marawi especially. Here and in similar areas in the south militants have has established a stronghold, and the Philippine government fears that as ISIS loses ground in Syria and Iraq, they could send fighters here. About 40 of the militants fighting in Marawi are believed to be foreign, according to Reuters, with most coming from Indonesia or Malaysia. The government has fought sporadic battles against extremists in the region for years. Abu Sayyaf, which is more established, has often kidnapped tourists and held them for ransom.

As soldiers fought on Friday to push the militants out, 13 Philippine marines were killed. The government said they died in “intense” house-to-house gun battles, hit with rocket propelled grenades and struck by improvised explosive devices as they moved through town.

Between 500 and 1,000 civilians are trapped in Marawi, many without electricity or running water. About 20 civilians have been killed in the fighting, and militants took some 100 hostages, including a Catholic priest. The government said these hostages are being used as human shields, which has slowed the advance of its troops. The government also said it was proceeding delicately, trying to avoid destroying mosques in the area, which military spokesman Herrera called “very symbolic to our Muslim brothers.”

News that U.S. and Philippine forces were working together is significant, because the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, has threatened to kick out the U.S. military. America maintains several bases on the island, which it does, in part, to hedge China in its push to control the South China Sea. But since becoming president last year, Duterte has taken an aggressive tone with the U.S., especially the Obama administration. Much of the international community, including the U.S. under Obama, criticized Détente’s drug war, which has killed more than 7,000 people. Duterte even made a historic trip to China and returned with $24 billion in funding and investment deals, meant to slight the U.S.

However, since the Trump administration took over the White House, Duterte has acted much friendlier with the U.S. In a phone call in May, Trump even invited Duterte to visit. </s> MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine government forces have foiled an attempt by a few dozen Muslim militants aligned with the Islamic State group to attack a small southern town in fighting that left four gunmen dead, an army official said Wednesday.

Army Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said troops clashed with 30-40 militants Tuesday and drove them away from the small farming community of Mopac where they planned to launch an attack on the town center of Datu Paglas about a half kilometer (quarter mile) away.

The militants from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters led by Solaiman Tudon occupied several abandoned houses in Mopac, where he used to live, over the weekend but his family and other villagers asked the gunmen to leave.

"They took sniper positions and placed some bombs in the community and that alarmed the villagers," Cabunoc said.

Troops backed by artillery fire later arrived and clashed with the militants, who fled and were being pursued by government forces, Cabunoc said, adding that villagers started returning to their homes in Mopac on Wednesday.

Tudon's group is one of several small armed militant factions that have expressed support to the Islamic State group.

Clashes have erupted this week in a number of rural villages in Maguindanao province, where Datu Paglas is located, as troops pressed sporadic offensives to prevent a repeat of last year's siege of southern Marawi city by hundreds of Islamic State group-aligned militants. The five-month fighting in Marawi left more than 1,000 combatants and civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers.
Almost 2,000 families are displaced in Mindanao region of the Philippines due to clashes between government forces and Islamist militants.