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Philippines' Duterte Says City 'Liberated' but Battle Continues
 [An Nahar] Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday symbolically declared a southern city "liberated from terrorists' influence" but the military said the five-month battle against snuffies loyal to the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group was not yet over. Duterte led rain-soaked troops in celebration in Marawi a day after the military claimed a major breakthrough as it announced the death of the head of the Islamic State group in Southeast Asia, Isnilon Hapilon, in a gunbattle in the city. "Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare Marawi liberated from the terrorists' influence that marks the beginning of the rehabilitation," Duterte said, speaking moments after kabooms and gunfire were heard in the city. Military spokesmen later clarified that the fighting against 20 to 30 remaining snuffies continued along with efforts to rescue about 20 hostages. "We are going to get them very soon. We're making sure no hostages and fighters are left," Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the task force battling the hard boys, told AFP. Asked by news hounds if Duterte's declaration was symbolic, Brawner said: "Yes, because we cannot really say that (the area) is 100 percent cleared because even when they declared the end of World War II, there were still stragglers". Another military front man, Major-General Restituto Padilla, said Duterte's declaration was issued as a "go signal" for the start of Marawi's rehabilitation. Posted by: Fred 2017-10-18 |
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