FILE – Maute gunmen are seen laughing and having fun in this undated photo taken from a smartphone of a slain suspected Maute fighter in Marawi City. The military released photographs of the Maute militants in candid moments to reporters on Sunday, July 9, 2017. (Photo released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines)
MARAWI CITY — The military said it was expecting the battle here to be bloodier as Maute gunmen and their allies were now moving inside a limited area.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, the commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said with only a few square kilometers remaining for the gunmen to move around, the situation had become tense – at least for the enemies.
“Their strongholds are one by one falling to us,” Galvez said.
But he said although the area being held by the Maute gunmen had diminished, their defense positions had become compact as well.
“So we expected more bloody operations in the sense that it’s now a very intense and close firefight,” Galvez said.
Earlier, military ground commanders had said the Maute gunmen and their allies now appear to be suicidal and did not mind if they get killed while attacking military positions.
Galvez agreed, saying that on July 21, Maute terrorists went closer to the position of operating troops to lob a grenade.
At least 9 soldiers were killed in that attack.
Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, the spokesperson of Task Force Marawi, said the Maute group had also rigged some houses with improvised explosive devices to exact more casualties on the government side – which so far has incurred 114 deaths.
Fortunately, Petinglay said Army bomb experts had detonated those planted in areas recently seized from the Maute control.
Petinglay, meanwhile, said the military was still validating reports about the death of another militant leader during one of the airstrikes conducted last week.
“We are checking and trying to verify if it’s Abdullah Maute,” she said.
Top Maute leader Abdullah remained inside the main battle area after Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon managed to sneak out in June.
Another Maute leader, Omar, was supposedly killed in a firefight with soldiers, also in June.
Galvez said the number of the militants inside the main battle area had been drastically reduced to just between 60 and 70 fighters.
But even if with the small number of remaining militants, he said the military could still not launch a major offensive because of the civilians being held as hostages.
“We need to really ensure the safety of hostages because we treasure the hostages’ lives as much as we treasure ours,” Galvez said./ac