[Reuters] Islamist rebels locked in an urban battle with troops in Marawi had planned to carve out an enclave of their own, officials said on Wednesday after the emergence of a video showing their leaders in a secret strategy meeting. The footage, found on a mobile phone as security forces closed in on the fighters in Marawi City, showed a group of men in a room discussing how they would take hostages from a school, seal off roads and capture a highway into the lakeside town.Military spokesman Restituto Padilla said, "There was indeed a bigger plan and it was supposed to wreak more havoc."
Officials have said that, among the several hundred insurgents who seized the town on May 23, there were about 40 foreigners from Indonesia and Malaysia but also fighters from India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Chechnya. The strike on Marawi City suggested to many that pro-Islamic State groups wanted to establish the town as a Southeast Asian wilayat (governorate} for the radical group, a view supported by the video footage.
The military has said that the fighters are increasingly penned in around a built-up area of the town, and soldiers have been clearing houses that the insurgents had defended with snipers for the past two weeks.
Philippine senators said members of the upper house were last week shown the video of the militants making their plans. In the video, the men pored over a map and one, identified by a subtitle as 'Abdullah', pointed to three locations and discussed options for attack. In a mix of regional languages and English he said, "We can jailbreak ... we can go inside schools ... we can take hostages. But we need to seize a highway so people will be scared."
Seated at a table with them was Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the Abu Sayyaf who was proclaimed by Islamic State last year as its "emir" of Southeast Asia. The U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of up to $5 million for his capture.
Hapilon has formed an alliance with the Maute group and at least two other factions that have lined up behind the Islamic State. Senator JV Ejercito said, "It was clear that these terrorists, the Maute group, their end goal is to make Marawi ... independent, or to separate from the republic. With a plan like this, this is already rebellion and a threat to national security, so declaration of martial law is justified."
The fighters prepared for a long siege, stockpiling arms and food in tunnels, basements, mosques and madrasas, military officials say.
Military spokesman Padilla appealed to social media users not to circulate material - such as video images of the militants destroying religious statues and pulling down a cross inside a church - that may fan religious tension. He said, "Let us not buy into the plan of these terror groups to inflame the feelings of our other religions. This is not a religious war."
A four-hour ceasefire to evacuate residents trapped in the town was interrupted by gunfire on Sunday, leaving some 500 to 600 inside with dwindling supplies of food and water. Officials say that 1,545 civilians have been rescued.
The latest numbers for militants killed in the battle is 134, along with 39 security personnel. Authorities have put the civilian death toll at between 20 and 38.