A hostage drama that unfolded at a primary school in the southern Philippines this morning has been resolved, a military spokesman said, and the Islamist militants who had held people captive had withdrawn with no reports of casualties.
Police Chief Inspector Realan Mamon told The Associated Press by telephone that gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters raided the village of Malagakit in North Cotabato province at dawn and engaged government forces in a firefight.
The Philippine military chief says a Malaysian militant who helped lead and finance the siege in southern Marawi city has been killed in one of the setbacks to the uprising by locals aligned with the Islamic State group. The U.S. military earlier deployed a spy plane and drones over Marawi.
"We can just bomb them away or use napalm bomb to burn everything, but then, we will not be any different from them if we do that", he said.
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Police earlier said the armed men had stormed a school in Pigcawayan town.
Pigcawayan is 190 kilometres south of Marawi City, where BIFF militants, along with fighters from other groups allied to IS, have been holed up and fighting the Philippines military since May 23. "We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities", Mamon said.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the Mindanao region under martial law and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently stated the Islamic State problem needed more co-operation from regional governments. An Al Jazeera reporter speculated that the state of martial law across the region may be a type of link.
Army spokesman Brigade General Restituto Padilla told Al Jazeera it was possible the attack was meant to disrupt the ongoing military offensive in Marawi. He also said three boatloads of gunmen, who tried to join the militants, were blasted by navy gunboats three days ago in Lanao Lake, which borders Marawi. "They have tried to attack a couple of times and all have been thwarted".
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