How IS pinned down Filipino soldiers in Marawi
Brigadier General Melquiades Ordiales of the Philippines 1st Marine Brigade with a grimace recounts the painful gains which were made against Islamist militants in Marawi City.
“It took us one week from this point to that point, to cross that street,” he said, while he casted his eyes to the other side of the two lane road which is located in the heart of the Southern Philippines city. The road is lined by three storey buildins which had been shattered by air strikes along with the remaining walls riddled with bullet holes.
“It was really very, very tough.”
The urban warfare which has been termed exruciating has destroyed much of the grandly named Sultan Omar Dianalan Boulevard and it just shows how much of a threat Islamic State is to the Philippines and potentially other countries in the Southeast Asian region.
However when the fighting had started the Philippine authorities had been unfazed.
After the Islamic State-backed militants took over large parts of picturesque, lakeside Marawi in May, the country’s defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, predicted the entire conflict would be over in one week.
However after four months of intense aerial bombardment and house-by-house battles, the commanders of the Philippine army believe they are in the final stages of the operation to oust the rebels from the city.
In the past two weeks, military officials say they have conquered three militant bastions, including a mosque, and restricted about 60 remaining guerrillas to about 10 devastated city blocks in the business district. Patrols have been increased on the lake to prevent the supply of armaments and recruits to the holed-up militants.
———————————————————————————————–
Watch your favorite programs, documentaries, informative packages and latest NEWS(English and Urdu).
Watch Humsub tv Live Streaming here: Humsub.tv
Read Latest Articles and News here: Pakistan News
———————————————————————————————–