02 June, 2017
Padilla said 960 civilians have been rescued and an estimated 1,000 residents remain trapped.
Eleven government security forces were killed Wednesday in an airstrike in Marawi when two bombers missed their intended targets, the armed forces revealed Thursday, according to Reuters.
"Maybe the coordination was not properly done so we hit our own people. But for as long as the military will say, we can not do it and it's beyond 60 days, Congress must understand that I will need more time", he added.
Ano said the gunmen were prepared to fight because they had been planning to unleash attacks during the holy month of Ramadan to capture the attention of the IS group.
Lorenzana said that foreign fighters from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Yemen had been killed in the battle for Marawi City.
"We call on the Maute group that claims to bear arms in the name of a Merciful and Benevolent God - the very same God we Christians worship and adore - to do the One God true honor by the mercy and benevolence that are two of our God's most exalted attributes", he said May 24.
"We don't have any record of them coming through the proper channel, through the airports". The island of Mindanao in the country's south has long served as a refuge for Islamist extremists, who travel by boat from neighbouring Indonesia or Malaysia, skirting porous border controls.
"What's happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens". However, they said: "We are certainly agreed that martial law must be temporary". "They want to create Mindanao as part of the caliphate". The president fears that the predominantly-Muslim southern Philippines could become a haven for extremists being driven out of Iraq and Syria.
This prompted Duterte to cut his trip to Russian Federation short and declare martial law throughout the southern region of the country.
"The earlier we attain the equanimity of the community, the stability, I'd be the first to clamor for the lifting of martial law", he said.
Referring to Bill Clinton's involvement with intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, he hit back at Chelsea Clinton and said he was speaking sarcastically about rape and it was not a joke. Maute snipers in the city fired on the army.
Fighters from the pro-Islamic State Maute group are clinging to the heart of the city, threatening to kill hostages, despite air and ground attacks by security forces for an eighth day. Padilla said yesterday the militants had murdered 19 civilians but insisted that the military's airstrikes had not killed any of the trapped residents.
Fighting between government forces and the militants erupted on May 23.
Duterte suggested last week he would be open to tapping the former rebel group, along with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for support against ISIS. "You do not declare martial law without asking the soldiers and the policemen", the Chief Executive said. "You can only use these for ceremonial flyby". Philippines officials said he was likely still in the city, pointing to the ferocity of ongoing resistance from the Maute fighters.
