Sunday, June 11, 2017

13 Filipino marines die in clashes with Islamic rebels using human shields amid heavy fighting in Mindanao

ISIS-backed rebels have launched an attack on the Filipino island of Mindanao
More than 200 people have been killed in clashes over the past fortnight
20 civilians and almost 40 government troops are among those killed in clashes
US special forces are supporting Filipino troops fighting the ISIS-backed rebels

13 Filipino marines have been killed during heavy fighting with Islamic militants who have laid siege to a southern island city for the past month.

Major clashes have been reported on the island of Mindanao as part of an operation by the army to drive out Islamic militants.

US special forces have been supporting Filipino troops who are battling terrorists who have taken human shields.

ISIS-backed terrorists killed 13 marines in the Philippines amid violent clashes

The bodies of the dead marines have been repatriated to the mainland Philippines

Rebels on the southern island of Mindanao have used human shields as part of their campaign

More than 200 people have been killed in clashes over the past fortnight including 20 civilians

According to Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera, his troops were engaged in house-to-house searches for terrorists in Marawi.

The spokesman for the army's 1st Infantry Division said that about 30 to 40 militants used civilians as human shields and positioned themselves in the city's many mosques. Forty other marines were wounded, he said.

The government earlier said the unrest had left 20 civilians, 134 militants and 39 government troops dead.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city, parts of which were reduced to rubble by fighting and government air strikes in an attempt to dislodge the rebels.

Colonel Edgard Arevalo said: 'This temporary setback has not diminished our resolve a bit.

'It instead primed up our determination to continue our prudent advances to neutralise the enemy, save the innocent lives trapped in the fight, and set the conditions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi.'

US special forces have provided assistance to the Filipino army to drive out the Islamic rebels

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.

United States special forces are providing support to the Philippine military battling to dislodge Islamist militants in a southern city, the US embassy said Saturday, as 13 Filipino marines were killed in fresh fighting.

Philippine troops are struggling to defeat hundreds of fighters, who rampaged through Marawi on May 23 flying black flags of ISIS, and have used bomb-proof tunnels, anti-tank weapons and civilians as human shields to fortify their positions.

Friday's ferocious, street-to-street gunbattles with the militants saw 13 troops killed in a dramatic surge in the toll from the conflict.

It was among the heaviest fighting in the standoff, according to AFP journalists in Marawi, with the air force supporting ground troops with sustained bombing runs that battered the city.

As the fighting intensified, the US embassy in Manila said American forces were providing assistance to the Filipino troops, although it declined to give details for security reasons.

A US Embassy spokesman said: 'At the request of the government of the Philippines, US special operations forces are assisting the (Philippine military) with ongoing operations in Marawi.'

Philippine military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera confirmed the US help, adding that the special forces were not fighting, but 'providing technical support'.

He said Friday's deaths brought the number of government troops killed in the conflict to 58.

'There were intense firefights, house-to-house gunbattles,' said Herrera at a news conference in Marawi.

'We are saddened with the result... we have fatalities on the government side,' he said.

At least 20 civilians and around 138 militants have also been killed, the government said.

The insurgents have so far withstood more than two weeks of air and ground assaults by security forces, with about 2,000 people believed to be trapped in militant-held areas although the military said this amounts to only around 10 percent of the city.

Herrera said the militants' tactics was making it harder for security forces to carry out attacks without causing civilian casualties and hurting religious sensitivities.

'The local terrorist groups are using the mosque, they are entrenched there. They also used civilians as human shields... we are very precise in our operations to avoid collateral damage.'