MARAWI // Thousands of civilians hoping to flee fighting in the besieged Philippine city of Marawi remained trapped on Sunday after a four-hour truce to evacuate residents was disrupted by gunfire.
Only 134 people were freed on Sunday, less than on previous days, despite government hopes that more than 1,000 would be able to leave a city battered by 13 days of intense fighting.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he would not negotiate with the militants – even if it means they kill the hostages they are holding, including a Catholic priest.
“I was asked if I could negotiate. I’m telling you now, you can kill all those you’re holding now, but I won’t talk to you,” Mr Duterte said in a speech before peace talks advocates at an airbase in the central city of Lapu-Lapu. “My order really is to shoot you and to shoot you dead.”
It came a day after he predicted the siege would be over within days despite fierce resistance by the militants.
“This will be over in about three more days,” Mr Duterte said on Saturday after visiting a hospital in Cagayan de Oro where wounded soldiers were being treated. “I will not hesitate to use every power available.”
About 400 local militants reinforced by around 40 foreign fighters stormed Marawi on May 23, using sophisticated battlefield tactics to seize large swathes of the lakeside city.
They have been pushed back to the city centre over the past week by Philippines forces, with around 4,000 ground troops moving in, bolstered by helicopters and aircraft deploying rockets and bombs.
Many residents say the air strikes have caused extensive property damage and dozens of civilian deaths. Authorities raised the civilian death toll from 20 to 38 on Sunday, but said all those deaths were caused by militants.
A presidential spokesman said 120 militants had died, along with 38 government forces. Mr Duterte said troops have held back from indiscriminately bombing away at the militants with newly acquired fighter jets and ending the urban insurrection in a day because the government has to assure the safety of civilians trapped in the fighting.
The president has asked the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an Islamic separatist movement based on Mindanao, to help negotiate a peace deal with the militants, who are predominantly drawn from the Maute Group based in and around Marawi.
MILF cadres organised Sunday’s ceasefire, which was to run from 8am until noon local time. They roamed the streets with loudspeakers urging residents to leave.
But by 9am, gunfire had broken out, apparently deterring residents from joining a mass exodus.
* Reuters and Associated Press
