ICC Note
This week, there was an attack on Marawi, a city in the Philippines, leaving at least 46 people dead. Jan Yamit, a health worker in the hospital just feet from the attack on Friday, said, “Those who were killed were Christians.” Leading up to the attack on Friday, ISIS led a raid on Tuesday, forcing people to fear for their lives and leave their homes with nowhere to go. Analysts have said that ISIS plans to establish a base in Southeast Asia. They have exploited the situation on the island of Mindanao because there is a lot of poverty there and many people are not trusting of the government in that area.
2017-05-26 The Philippines (The Guardian) – The CCTV monitor was showing a live feed of gunmen in the hospital lobby. From the safety of another floor, Jan Yamit, a 23-year-old health worker, watched in horror as the militants shot a police officer and then a security guard before storming into the building.
“I can’t explain what I was feeling. I was nervous. I am pissed by those kinds of people. They kill defenceless people,” he said of the attack in Marawi, a city on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
He and his brother, who worked as a lift operator in the building, sneaked from one room to another. Eventually, they found a wooden plank and made a bridge from the third floor to a neighbouring building.
“Those who were killed were Christians,” he said.
The attack on Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of 200,000 people, by the Islamic State-linked Maute group this week has led to a fierce three-day battle, with the army deploying attack helicopters and special forces.
At least 46 people – 15 members of the security forces and 31 militants – have been killed. On Friday, the Maute held its positions on bridges and remained hidden in buildings, despite heavy overnight artillery and airstrikes.
The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, who cut short a foreign visit to Russia, has imposed martial law in Mindanao and promised bloodshed. “If there’s an open defiance, you will die,” he said on Wednesday. “And if it means many people dying, so be it.”
The clashes erupted after the military launched a botched raid on Tuesday to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a senior leader of Abu Sayyaf, a longstanding jihadi faction known for its involvement in piracy and kidnappings, and for beheading hostages. The military said he had joined the Maute, another Isis-linked insurgent group.
Within hours, the Maute had retaliated, taking over the hospital. The militants set light to a school and a church, and released about 100 prisoners from a jail.
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