Fears of infiltration grow
♦ Troops put city of Iligan on lockdown
♦ Several thousand civilians stuck in Marawi
The Philippine city of Iligan was overflowing with evacuees and on lockdown yesterday over fears Islamist militants had sneaked out of nearby Marawi, where troops were battling to drive out gunmen holed up in buildings for a seventh day.
The fighting in the city of Marawi with pro-Islamic State militants of the Maute group is the biggest security challenges of Rodrigo Duterte's 11-month presidency, with gunmen still holding parts of the city and fending off helicopter air strikes and ground attacks by commandos.
Most of Marawi's 200,000 people have left, many pouring into Iligan, some 38 km (24 miles) away, where authorities said they were stretched to the limit and worried that Maute fighters were blending in with the displaced and could launch attacks.
"We don't want what's happening in Marawi to spill over in Iligan," said Colonel Alex Aduca, chief of the Fourth Mechanized Infantry Battalion.
"We want to ensure the safety of people here, to prevent elements from entering and conducting terroristic activities," he told DZMM radio.
He said some rebels had been caught trying to get into Iligan, but did not give details.
Sixty-one militants, 20 members of the security forces and 19 civilians have been killed since Tuesday, when Maute rebels went on the rampage in Marawi after a botched attempt by the military to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, who the government believes is a point man for Islamic State in the Philippines.
The Philippines military said yesterday it was close to retaking the southern city held for a seventh day by Islamist militants, as helicopters unleashed more rockets on positions held by the rebels aligned with Islamic State.
The military said the rebels may be getting help from "sympathetic elements" and fighters they had freed from jail during the rampage that started on Tuesday and caught the military by surprise.
"Our ground commanders have assured that the end is almost there," military spokesman, Restituto Padilla told reporters.
"We can control who comes in and who comes out, who moves around and who doesn't. And we're trying to isolate all these pockets of resistance."
The military said thousands of people were stranded, worried they could be intercepted by militants that have set up checkpoints on routes out of the city.
Civilians stuck in Marawi were without food and were as anxious about rocket strikes as much as they were the militants, said Zia Alonto Adiong, a politician coordinating efforts to evacuate civilians. Alonto said civilians stuck in Marawi wanted air strikes to stop.
"The anticipation of death is worse than death itself," he told news channel ANC. "We appeal to our military forces to do a different approach."
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