"13 Philippine Marines Killed in Battle Against..." Topic

…Islamist Militants.

"Thirteen Philippine marines were killed and at least 40 others were wounded in a 14-hour clash with militants linked to the Islamic State in the city of Marawi, the military said on Saturday.

It was believed to be the deadliest single-day toll for military forces battling Islamist militants from the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups that seized part of the city in May, beginning a wave of violence across Marawi and displacing tens of thousands of Filipinos.

The battle erupted at dawn on Friday after the marines targeted militants holding several civilian hostages, and the fighting stretched into dusk. The clashes were still continuing on Saturday, said Col. Edgard Arevalo, a military spokesman.

"The marines were able to inflict heavy casualties to the terrorist group," Colonel Arevalo said…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Militants???

"Islamist militants"

Silly PC semantics. They're just so worried about using the right word combination that they settle on the meaningless.

Dan

Islamist terrorists then!

Yep. The local ISIS branch and their Salafi/Wahhabi sympathizers.

I suspect that, sooner or later, the Philippines will get absolutely tired of all the intervention by Indonesia and other neighboring states, who keep supplying these violent Muslim fundamentalists all their weapons and support. And then all hell is going to break loose.

Dan

When will free word stop to treat as ennemies their friends while helping , as a conseguence, the terrorists? The new energic leader of philippines , instead of being criticised, must be trusted and helped in his fight vs terrorists

There have been Islamic types raising hell in the Philippines since before the PI was a Spanish colony. They're called Moros. The US had to deal with them, the Japanese had to deal with them when they held the Philippines, and the Filipinos have to deal with them now.

for what i read the Americans, contrary to the over relaxed Spanish, found the most appropriate solution to the problem…they cornered the Moros terrorists in a couple of extinguished vulcans and strongholds and liquidated them..including civilians supporters that, despite US authorities warnings, choosed to follow the datus so in practice to help them in their criminal actions…i suppose Philippines President, at least a strong man, should act accordingly ..not only martial law…liquidate the Moros terrs

including civilians supporters

Committing war crimes, seem to be your solution for everything…
I assume you are perfectly ok with what Mao and Stalin did too. Or is war crimes only ok if done by right wingers.

Lion is right.

The Moros have been causing everyone trouble for centuries because they will not give up their ideas of religious (re)conquest.

They are on a Jihad, only after religious cleansing, and ISIS, Al,Qaeda, Indonesia and other neighboring states keep sending them fighters, weapons and other support to keep that area unstable. Qatar keeps sending them money too.

Dan

Actually, they have just wanted to be left alone. The Moros have fought against against colonization first by the Spanish and then the US, the Japanese, then the Philippine government. Conquest has not been the issue. Now, AQ and or ISIS influence over the past decade may have impacted some of the factions within the Moro population but over all, the Moros just want a fair share in the distribution of government allocations and otherwise be left alone.

From what old Filipino friends of my Dad from Mindanao say, there have always been violent and fanatical factions within the group. It is not a new thing.

Dan

Agree with you Dan!.

Amicalement
Armand

Committing war crimes, seem to be your solution for everything…

Not clear if what he is talking about is a war crime. This is also an issue in many other war situations. At what point does a 'supporting civilian' cross the line and become a combatant?

"Committing war crimes, seem to be your solution for everything…"

Traitors, collaborators and those who give aid and comfort to the enemy are often subject to summary execution by all sides in many of history's conflicts. To paraphrase the old saying, "You lay down with dogs, you get up with bullet holes in your fleas."

But today's media has the practice of automatically designating as a "civilian casualty" any body found that is not wearing a uniform or grasping a weapon in their cold dead hands.

And we all know that news media can't be wrong about those things. They always know better than the people who did all the actual fighting.

Dan

I'm willing to give Duterte the benefit of the doubt, but common sense tells me he's not one to be overly concerned with minimizing civilian casualties and collateral damage in light of his heavy-handedness in the war on drugs. He's more of a "the end justifies the means" kinda guy.

I'm just taking a wild guess here …

Duterte's probably seen or heard of higher troop casualty rates in protracted operations before, because they tried to make the attacks surgical when the authorities weren't properly trained or equipped do execute those delicate missions. And maybe the militants have killed a similar total number of civilians when the intervention takes too long.

So he thinks the shotgun approach will cost him less in the long run.

Dan
PS. For the record, I don't like the man. But that's what the country has to work with at the moment. And maybe many were hoping to finally have a man of action.

Gunfreak…it,s evident that as you show as an example and support Mao and Stalin ..plus you re against Philippines elected Premier,
you side with outlaws…in my country statement like yours should be,in today situation, reported to the police

Sorry, are we talking about the same Duterte, the one that has admitted to murdering drug suspects ? (Not convicted drug users or dealers, but just people suspected.. )? And encouraged others to do so? Not to mention mass imprisonment without trial.

Are people on this board actually condoning extra judicial killing – i.e. murder?

Tough luck if your neighbour doesn't like you, and phones the cops to tell them you're a dealer.

I have a number of friends in the Philippines, and most of them are planning to leave. They are scared by what's happening, not just of terrorist attack, but also of the authoritarian actions of the government.

The same as after other terrorist actions and innocent victims (in this case the eroic philippines marines) there are always guys over here that do profeetering of the situation …and side , according to the case, with bandits, drug dealers, Marxist criminals and, of course, with muslim terrorists..siding, as usual, against law and civilisation….they have in my opinion a certain responsability for the atmosphere of terror

ITALWARS: "bandits, drug dealers, Marxist criminals and, of course, with muslim terrorists..siding, as usual, against law and civilisation….they have in my opinion a certain responsability for the atmosphere of terror"

And, of course, their sympathetic media. They spread that terror atmosphere even further.

Dan