ZAMBOANGA
CITY, the Philippines
The Philippines military announced Monday that 54
militants have been killed in a series of clashes between a Daesh-linked group
and government troops in the predominantly Muslim south, with shelling and
airstrikes continuing Monday.
Maj. Filemon Tan, Western Mindanao Command
spokesman, said two government troops were also killed since the military began
operations last week against the “Maute group” in Lanao del Sur province.
"The troops continue to towards the enemy
stronghold and defeat the LTGs [local terrorist groups] in the area," GMA
News quoted him as saying.
Col. Roseller Murillo, 103rd Infantry Brigade
commander, had earlier said that the operations were “hatched after the Maute
group regrouped in Butig town and staged terrorist activities".
He said that among the dead militants was Wowwie
Mimbantas, a son of a former leader of the country’s one-time largest Muslim
rebel group, Aleem Mimbantas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The military has been using OV-10 bombers and 81mm
mortars in its offensive on the group’s lair since Sunday.
The Maute group -- along with fellow militant group
the Abu Sayyaf -- has pledged allegiance to Daesh.
The military has blamed the group for a series of
kidnappings in Lanao province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and
holds it responsible for the beheading of the two civilians -- sawmill workers
-- in Butig town in Lanao del Sur last month.
In February, a conflict had broken out in Lanao del
Sur between government troops and a group of Moro insurgents with reported
Daesh sympathies.
Three army soldiers were killed and 11 others
wounded in the disturbances, which also left 20 members of the group dead.
The fighting forced around 335 families to flee
their homes.
The clashes began when a supposed "foreign and
local terrorist organization" led by the "Maute brothers"
harassed the 51st Infantry Battalion, which had been manning a patrol base in
Bayabao village.
Armored personnel carriers and troops were sent to
the area, and the military used two helicopters to track down the armed men and
conducted air strikes against them.
The military has said the skirmishes turned into a
full-blown military offensive with troops using artillery, gunships and armored
personnel carriers against the suspected terrorists.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf group -- armed with
mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has
carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a
self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms
have failed to be paid for their release.
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