[Inquirer] The main battle zone in Marawi City resembles a tsunami-hit wasteland, with bullet-riddled mosques and a network of tunnels testifying to militant hide-and-kill tactics. Two days after the Philippine military declared an end to the five-month conflict, scrawny feral dogs and swallows flying above the ruins were among the few signs of life in the city's devastated neighborhoods.Many buildings were just piles of gray rubble. The pink minaret of one mosque was so riddled by gunfire that most of its plaster had been stripped off and only its iron beams remained. A brief tour for journalists on Wednesday showed some of the terrorists’ ratlike survival techniques, including the digging of holes through concrete floors up to 25 centimeters thick. These connected to Marawi's drainage system, allowing them to scramble to nearby buildings undetected.
Samuel Yunque, commander of an Army Special Forces unit that fought the entire campaign,said the military also adapted to rebel tactics by blasting their own “rat holes” in walls between buildings so troops could move quickly without going back into the open streets.
In the early days of battle, Yunque said, his unit took two days using conventional tactics to rescue 16 crewmen of two armored vehicles that had been disabled by rocket-propelled grenades. He said, “They were surrounded by snipers on tall buildings and they were attempting to burn them alive by tossing molotov [firebombs] at their vehicles. When we rescued them they were singed and down to their shorts. They had their firearms but they had not eaten for days and were about to run out of bullets."Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the military task force, said on Sunday that the terrorists were trapped in a two-story commercial building by Lake Lanao. However, the final battle on Monday took place inside a mosque, claiming the lives of two soldiers and 42 militants, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año said.
At least 920 militants were killed during the siege of Marawi, while 165 troops and 47 civilians died, according to the military. The fighting displaced about 400,000 people, and made the eastern half of the city uninhabitable for many years. Authorities are only now beginning to grapple with a multibillion-dollar rehabilitation program.