MILF starts helping evacuate trapped Marawi civilians

Residents and commuters from Marawi City queue up at a police checkpoint at the entrance to Iligan City on the southern island of of Mindanao on May 29, 2017.  Initial fighting between troops and Islamist militants prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on May 23 across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat from terrorists linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. (AFP FILE PHOTO / TED ALJIBE)

COTABATO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said its forces in Marawi City have started helping evacuate civilians out of harm’s way as government forces continue battling with terrorists.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, said on Wednesday his group’s efforts came after MILF chief Al Haj Murad met with President Duterte in Davao City Monday night.

Jaafar said even before the meeting, the MILF had been helping Maranaos trapped in the hostilities. “We escorted them out of their homes to nearby towns outside the city.”

The MILF official also confirmed that at one point since the atrocities erupted in Marawi on May 23, MILF residents of a beleaguered city joined hands and fired at the gunmen trying to blow off the bridge.

“With the President’s go-signal, our troops there have been instructed to help in bringing out of the city the remaining civilians,” he said.

He said there was no directive yet for MILF forces to fight side by side with the government against Maute in Marawi.

He added the MILF’s priority has been the civilians trapped in the city regardless of whether they were MILF relatives or not.  SFM/rga