Posted on 06/05/2017 10:29:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Senior military officials told reporters that they believed the militants were hiding in an extensive network of underground shelters, built years ago.
"There are underground tunnels and basements that even a 500-pounder (bomb) cannot destroy," said Maj Gen Carlito Galvez, head of the military command in the Western Mindanao region.
Government and military estimates on the number of militants left in Marawi have ranged from 40 to 200.
...
The militants were also apparently well-prepared for a possible siege, and had placed supplies in mosques and religious schools - which are off-limits for air strikes - days before seizing the city, said officials.
...
Military spokesman Lt Col Jo-ar Herrera told AFP news agency that these buildings contained at least a month's worth of food, as well as weapons such as machine guns.
The gunman had also collected ammunition and provisions from the city after ransacking Marawi's jail and armouries, said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella who was quoted in The Philippine Inquirer.
When the conflict first broke out, officials had said fighters from the Maute group, linked to the so-called Islamic State, stormed the city after an attempt by Philippine troops to capture Hapilon.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Easy fix. Take the Mosques off the ‘off limits’ list and hit the cave networks with flame throwers!
Bad optics... just pass a law that reclassifies any religious establishment stockpiling weapons and harboring criminals as an enemy outpost rather than a house of worship. No need to attack mosques, as mosques don’t have weapon wielding terrorists... those enemy outposts on the other hand?
Mosques? Enemy command centers. War is hell.
It is so disheartening to me that after 25+ years of war we still don't try to win.
It's why years ago I resigned myself to not supporting these wars. I swear the half-assery is much, much worse.
If all true....who funded it?
Qatar?
Everyone is focusing on this bit of insanity and with good reason. It'd be like allowing the Nazis in WWII to designate bunkers, weapons depots and barracks as protected properties of the Church of Nazism.
Give duterte some nukes.
I’d rethink that last statement. While some may like the indiscriminate killing of drug dealers and users, putting a nuke in this guys hands could be like giving one to a red-headed kid with a short fuse.
“The militants were also apparently well-prepared for a possible siege, and had placed supplies in mosques and religious schools - which are off-limits for air strikes -”
That policy needs to change immediately.
L
The comment was very tongue in cheek.
The man seems unhinged.
I've also read many times about our various bunker-busting munitions. Maybe they can't reach deep enough to entirely destroy the tunnels, but why not the access to them? Am I being too simplistic?
Just put stripper bars in front of the tunnels. Catch ‘em all no problem.
I've long been thinking that mosques, religious schools (madrasses), prisons should be infiltrated by clandestine operatives ... like we do with biker and other gangs. This is where musch of the radical recruiting is happening.
I'm also okay with international cooperation in shutting down radical web sites, which is the other main source of recruitment. In this day of hacking anything, it should be fairly easy to do. If specifically targeted to these sites, it would have no impact on the freedom of the Internet for others. I'm confident that counter-terrorism agencies do monitored, but why they don't cyber-attack those sites is beyond me. Maybe they leave them going to obtain more info?
A better, low cost solution, instead of flamethrowers, use a combination of propane and oxygen at a 1 to 8 ratio.
Works great for both gophers and tunnel rats.
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