'Calculated' ops employed in Marawi to avoid collateral damage - military

From the Philippine News Agency (May 30): 'Calculated' ops employed in Marawi to avoid collateral damage - military

The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) on Tuesday said it continues to employ "surgical strikes" in flushing out the remaining members of the Maute group to ensure the safety of civilians who are still trapped in Marawi City.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., Westmincom chief, said that precise military attack "is vital to complete the mission to free the besieged city from terrorists with minimal if not zero collateral damage."
“Despite numerous attempts to reach out to the Maute, they refused to have a stand down in order to evacuate the trapped civilians thus, the need to be very careful. Calculated actions are very important for your armed forces as of the moment in order to avoid collateral damage and loss of life from among the innocent civilians,” Galvez said.

The Westmincom statement was released following the successful rescue of 163 civilians who were trapped since the armed conflict started a week ago.

“Our focus as of the moment is to clear Marawi (City) of militants, to rescue trapped civilians and to recover civilian casualties and victims in the fastest means possible,” Brig. Gen. Rolando Joselito Bautista, commander of the Joint Task Force Marawi, said.

“Yesterday (Monday), we were able to safely extricate 163 civilians from the danger (zone),” Bautista added.

To date, there are about 439 civilians rescued by soldiers and policemen.

Bautista said troops rescued 22 civilians who were trapped in one of the buildings inside the compound of the Lanao Del Sur Electric Company (LASURECO) in Barangay Gadungan, Marawi City.

Inch by inch, the troopers liberated 20 more civilians near LASURECO, he added.

Bautista said soldiers also rescued 121 civilians in the adjacent village of Saber. They were immediately brought to the provincial capitol of Lanao del Sur.

“Clearing operations continue in some parts of the city. Soldiers are searching for terrorist inch by inch, making sure that they are not hiding in houses,” Bautista said.

As of Tuesday, at least 65 Maute members were killed with 42 bodies recovered by the troops. The soldiers also recovered 52 firearms.

Troops also recovered 19 dead bodies of civilians who were “mercilessly killed by the terrorists in the different areas of the city,” he said.

Government forces lost 17 soldiers and three policemen, while 69 soldiers and three policemen were wounded.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/992140