Philippine troops find stash of banknotes
as fighters pull back
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[June 06, 2017]
By Neil Jerome Morales
MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) -
Philippines troops found bundles of banknotes and cheques worth about
$1.6 million abandoned by Islamist militants holed up in Marawi City, a
discovery the military said on Tuesday was evidence that the fighters
were pulling back.
Fighters linked to Islamic State have been cornered in a built-up sliver
of the southern lakeside town after two weeks of intense combat. The
military said that over the past 24 hours it had taken several buildings
that had been defended by snipers.
In one house they found a vault loaded with neat stacks of money worth
52.2 million pesos ($1.06 million) and cheques made out for cash worth
27 million pesos ($550,000).
"The recovery of those millions of cash indicates that they are running
because the government troops are pressing in and focusing on destroying
them," Marines Operations Officer Rowan Rimas told a news conference in
the town as helicopters on machinegun runs buzzed overhead.
Black smoke poured from an area near one of the town's mosques and the
lake after bombings by OV-10 attack aircraft and artillery fire from the
ground.
The battle for Marawi has raised concerns that the ultra-radical Islamic
State, on a back foot in Syria and Iraq, is building a regional base on
the Philippine island of Mindanao.
Officials said that, among the several hundred militants who seized the
town on May 23, there were about 40 foreigners from neighboring
Indonesia and Malaysia but also from India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and
Chechnya.
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The fighters prepared for a long siege, stockpiling arms and food in
tunnels, basements, mosques and madrasas, or Islamic religious schools,
military officials say. The Philippines is largely Christian, but Marawi
City is overwhelmingly Muslim.
Progress in the military campaign has been slow because hundreds of
civilians are still trapped or being held hostage in the urban heart of
the town, officials have said.
"In a few days, we will we will be able to get everything, we will be
able to clear the entire Marawi City," armed forces Chief of Staff
General Eduaro Año said in a radio interview.
"MAYBE THEY WATCH WAR MOVIES"
Fighting erupted in Marawi after a bungled raid aimed at capturing
Isnilon Hapilon, whom Islamic State proclaimed as its "emir" of
Southeast Asia last year after he pledged allegiance to the group. The
U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of up to $5 million for his
arrest.
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte offered a bounty of 10 million
pesos ($200,000) to anyone who "neutralized" Hapilon, and 5 million
pesos for each of the two leaders of the Maute group, one of four
factions that banded together to take the town.
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![](../images/060617pics/news_t37.jpg)
A government soldier carries a box containing 52.2 million pesos
($1.06 million) cash seized from a vault in a house previously
controlled by militants in the Marawi city, Philippines June 6,
2017. REUTERS/Neil Jerome Morales
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Año said an estimated 100 Maute militants were holding out, and the
military was checking on a report that one of its founding leaders,
Omar Maute, had been killed in an air strike.
Duterte, who launched a ruthless "war on drugs" after coming to
power a year ago, has said the Marawi fighters were financed by drug
lords in Mindanao, an island the size of South Korea that has
suffered for decades from banditry and insurgencies.
Jo-Ar Herrera, a military spokesman, said the discovery of the stash
of banknotes and cheques was evidence that the militants had links
to international terrorist groups. However, he said an investigation
was needed to establish the facts.
It is possible that the money came from a bank that was raided on
the first day of the siege. Herrera told Reuters last week that a
branch of Landbank had been attacked and he had heard that one of
its vaults was opened.
A four-hour ceasefire to evacuate residents trapped in the town was
interrupted by gunfire on Sunday, leaving some 500-600 inside with
dwindling supplies of food and water.
Officials say that 1,469 civilians have been rescued.
The latest numbers for militants killed in the battle is 120, along
with 39 security personnel. The authorities have put the civilian
death toll at between 20 and 38.
Asked to describe the fighting skills and training of the militants
in the town, Major Rimas said: "They have snipers and their
positions are well defended. Maybe they watch war movies a lot, or
action pictures a lot so they borrowed some tactics from it."
(Additional reporting by Karen Lema in MANILA; Writing by John
Chalmers; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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