Additional troops to be deployed to secure cleared Marawi City areas

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 6): Additional troops to be deployed to secure cleared Marawi City areas

Additional troops will be deployed in Marawi City to prevent Maute Group terrorists from reentering cleared areas in the locality, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff, Gen. Eduardo Año, said in a radio interview Tuesday.

"We have enough forces there (in Marawi City) but to be sure that they (Maute Group terrorists) will be prevented from infiltrating into the cleared areas, we will be deploying additional troops," he added.

These troops will be deployed to prevent these brigands from conducting terroristic actions and other atrocities against civilian residents.

Año said heavy fighting is now ongoing in areas being held by remnants of the Maute Group as the military is now focusing on clearing sniper positions. These lawless elements, Ano added, are used in slowing down troop movements and targeting civilians.

"Once these sniper positions are cleared, we can now say that Marawi City is now fully cleared," he said.

Of special interest is the Maute Group positions in Bangolo as they were able to take control of tall buildings in the area and stocked these with weapons and bullets, showing that there is an existing plan of the group to stage attacks in Marawi City during Ramadhan.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/993736