[SCMP] Islamist faceless myrmidons control about 20 per cent of Marawi City in the Philippines, a top general said on Tuesday, refuting a claim by 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....
(IS) that its fighters were still "spread in more than two-thirds" of the town after three weeks of fighting.
Last week a military front man said the Death Eaters, who tried to seize and seal off Marawi on May 23, had been beaten back into less than 10 per cent of the Moslem-majority town on the island of Mindanao.
IS’s news agency, Amaq, said that the Philippines military had "completely failed" in a first effort to regain the city, at least 200 of its troops had died and many had fled their positions amid fierce fighting.
"Islamic State fighters are spread in more than two-thirds of Marawi and tighten the chokehold on the Philippine army that is incapable of maintaining control of the situation," it said.
Military front man Brigadier General Restituto Padilla branded the Amaq report "pure propaganda".
"Should we take their word that they control two-thirds of Marawi? With 202 confirmed forces of Evil killed why should we even give them the chance of airing their lies?" he said.
Asked to comment on how much of the lakeside town was still occupied, Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez, head of military command in Western Mindanao, said it was 20 per cent.
"Out of 96 barangays [neighbourhoods], they are holding portions in Marinaut, Lulut, Mapandi and Bongolo Commercial District, which only comprise 20 per cent of the whole Marawi City ... and its getting smaller everyday," he said.
Almost the entire population of about 200,000 fled from Marawi after the faceless myrmidons stormed it, but the military believes that beyond the checkpoints now fencing off its main roads there are still some 500-600 civilians trapped or being held hostage.
Padilla said that, as of Tuesday, the number of security forces and civilians who had died in the battle for Marawi stood at 58 and 26, respectively.
The seizure of Marawi by fighters allied to Islamic State, including some from the Middle East, has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear the ultra-radical group ‐ on a back foot in Iraq and Syria ‐ is trying to set up a stronghold on Mindanao that could threaten their region.
Indonesia says it was looking to set up joint patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia to prevent Islamic faceless myrmidons who have laid siege to Marawi.
Indonesia’s military chief, General Gatot Nurmantyo, said late Monday that he and Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu would meet next week with their counterparts from Malaysia and the Philippines on Indonesia’s Tarakan island in northern Borneo, just across the border from Sabah, Malaysia. He said they would discuss increasing security and signing an agreement to step up joint patrols.
Nurmantyo said Indonesia needed to be aware of the movement of IS-aligned faceless myrmidons in the Philippines who assaulted Marawi because Indonesia already had sleeper sleeping cells that most likely have been long embedded in the country. He said IS-affiliated cells exist in all of Indonesia’s provinces except Papua.