Islamist militants control about 20 per cent of Marawi City in the Philippines, a top general said on Tuesday (Jun 13), refuting a claim by Islamic State that its fighters were still “spread in more than two-thirds” of the town after three weeks of fighting.
Last week a military spokesman said the militants, who tried to seize and seal off Marawi on May 23, had been beaten back into less than 10 per cent of the Muslim-majority town on the island of Mindanao.
Islamic State’s news agency, Amaq, said that the Philippines military had “completely failed” in a first effort to regain the city, at least 200 of its troops had died and many had fled their positions amid fierce fighting.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla branded the Amaq report “pure propaganda”. Read more here.
{Matzav}
