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| Southeast Asia |
| Terrorists holding out 70 days into Philippine battle |
| 2017-08-01 |
| [AA.TR] After 70 days of fighting, up to 40 pro-ISIS Lions of Islam are holding out in Marawi City, Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana said Monday. Militants from the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... seized Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on May 23 and just a handful remain embedded in pockets around the devastated city. The military said it has killed 491 forces of Evil in heavy fighting that saw the government order "I think they are down to only 30 to 40 fighters but don’t discount them as these are good fighters and we are still taking casualties," Lorenzana said, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency. "In fact, we had one killed and nine maimed some three days ago and yesterday." The military is looking into claims that Abdullah Maute, one of the brothers leading the Maute group, was killed over the weekend, front man Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said. The Lions of Islam currently hold 80-100 hostages, including Catholic priest Teresito Suganob, ABS-CBN news reported Padilla as saying. |
| Posted by:Fred |