A week-long assault by Islamist rebels in a southern Philippine city is being fueled with stolen weapons and ammunition and fighters broken out of jails, the military said on Wednesday, as troops battled militants resisting ground and air attacks.
The pro-Islamic State Maute group has proven to be a fierce enemy, clinging on to the heart of Marawi City through days of air strikes on what the military called known rebel targets, defying expectations of a swift end to their occupation, reports Reuters.
The military on Wednesday deployed for the first time SF-260 close air support planes to back attack helicopters and ground troops looking to box rebels into a downtown area. The rebels hold about a tenth of the city, the army said.
Military spokesman Restituto Padilla said the hardline Maute had kept up the fight with rifles and ammunition stolen from a police station, a prison, and an armored police vehicle.
“They were able to get an armored vehicle of the police,” Padilla added. “Inside, there is a supply of bullets,” he said, adding that the ammunition was among the stolen items the rebels were using to resist the forces being poured into the area.
The militants, who freed jailed comrades to join the battle, opted for urban warfare because arms were available in the city and homes and shops provided ample supplies of food, Padilla said.
“Yes indeed, there was planning involved,” he added.
The military has from the outset insisted it has control of the situation, but the slow pace of efforts to retake Marawi has prompted questions about its strategy.
That has been compounded by social media images of smiling fighters with assault rifles posing on an armored, U.S.-made police combat vehicle, dressed in black and wearing headbands typical of Islamic State.
Another picture showed a bearded man at the wheel of a police van flying an Islamic State flag. The authenticity of the images has not been independently verified and the military has urged the public not to spread “propaganda”.
