US Spy Planes Help Philippine Troops Quell Marawi Siege
American spy planes are helping Filipino troops quell a
nearly three-week siege by Maute terror group in Marawi City where 13
Philippine marines were killed in the biggest single-day loss for government forces,
officials said Saturday, June 10.
A U.S. Navy aircraft provided surveillance for the local
troops as the battle raged in Marawi on Friday, confirming the involvement of
the U.S. military in helping to end the urban insurrection at the request of
the Philippine government, Philippine military officials said.
The aircraft flew above rocket-firing Philippine helicopters
that struck militant positions, causing plumes of smoke to billow skyward.
An Associated Press journalist and photographer saw a U.S.
Navy P3 Orion plane hovering in cloudy skies above Marawi on Friday.
“We don’t have adequate surveillance equipment, so we asked the U.S. military for assistance. It’s noncombat assistance,” Military Spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said by phone, citing a Philippine government policy that bars foreign troops from local combat.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila said without elaborating that
U.S. special operation forces were providing help to Filipino troops battling
the Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants in Marawi.
“The United States is a proud ally of the Philippines, and
we will continue to work with the Philippines to address shared threats to the
peace and security of our countries, including on counterterrorism issues,” the
embassy said in a statement.
Philippine marines were conducting a house-to-house search
for militants allied with the Islamic State group who are still occupying parts
of Marawi when the battle erupted Friday, said Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera,
Spokesman for the Philippine army’s 1st Infantry Division.
About 30-40 militants used civilians as human shields,
making it hard for troops to operate, and also positioned themselves in the
city’s many mosques.
Forty other marines were wounded, Herrera said.
Philippine military officials stated the violence has left
at least 138 militants and 58 government troops dead.
“At least 21 civilians have been killed, including a boy who
was hit by suspected militant gunfire inside a Marawi mosque where his family
had taken refuge,” Padilla said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city, parts of
which were reduced to rubble by fighting and government airstrikes in an
attempt to dislodge the rebels.
“This temporary setback has not diminished our resolve a bit,”
said Military Spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo.
“It instead primed up our determination to continue our
prudent advances to neutralize the enemy, save the innocent lives trapped in
the fight, and set the conditions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of
Marawi,” he added.
Meanwhile, Filipino forces captured on Friday the mother of
two top militant leaders leading the siege.
Ominta Romato Maute, who is also known as Farhana, was
arrested with two wounded men and several women allegedly with assault rifles
and other weapons in Masiu town in Lanao del Sur province.
Maute’s husband, Cayamora, was arrested at a police
checkpoint in the southern city of Davao on Tuesday.
The two were detained on suspicion of providing financial
and other support to their children who are involved in the fighting in Marawi,
officials said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial
law in the Mindanao region, the southern third of the Philippines and home to a
decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion.
The Marawi siege followed a May 23 army raid that failed to
capture a top terror suspect, Isnilon Hapilon, who has been designated by the
Islamic State group as its leader in Southeast Asia.
The raid, however pre-empted a plot by hundreds of militants
waving Islamic State group-style black flags to capture Marawi and kill Christians,
military officials said.
US Spy Planes Help Philippine Troops Quell Marawi Siege
Reviewed by Yen
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June 11, 2017
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Reviewed by Yen
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June 11, 2017
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