59 alleged reinforcements of Maute-Abu Sayyaf captured

July 28, 2017

MARAWI CITY — Government security forces captured a total of 59 suspected reinforcements for Maute-Abu Sayyaf fighters here, a military spokesperson said Friday. Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command and Joint Task Force Marawi, said Friday the 59 persons were flown to Manila through a  C130 military cargo plane from Zambaonga City airport. Petinglay said  32 were intercepted at a checkpoint around 10:15 a.m. in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay on July 25 while 27, along with four minors, were arrested in Guiwan, in Zamboanga City. “They were all heading to Madamba in Lanao del Sur town. No weapons were recovered from them but we doubt because they were saying they were recruited for integration in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. But right now we don’t have such program,” she said. “Until now, they have identification cards but I think they only used the recruitment as alibi,” she added. The statement came as the military launched a large scale air and artillery assault against members of Islamic State-inspired militants here. The Philippine Air Force deployed two Agusta attack helicopters, two MG-520 helicopters and two SF-260 bomber planes. “The air strikes started this morning. It depends on the needs of our ground troops. Not all the time we have air strikes. Although there are specific areas of targets which we cannot divulge but everyday we have different challenge, needs and situations,: Petinglay said. Petinglay said soldiers are finding difficult to flush out their remaining enemies due to the presence of civilians and homemade bombs in the area. “It’s difficult everyday. Our troops’ movement is very slow because of the homemade bombs and civilians,” she said. Petinglay said as of July 27, the number of government casualties is at 114. DMS