Killing the leader may not be enough to stamp out Islamic State

* Loyalty to ultra hardline vision may not be affected

* Followers remain open to message of sectarian hatred

* Teachings continue to be spread online

* But globally attacks have receded

* Under new leader, group may start to splinter

BAGHDAD - The killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is of considerable importance, experts believe, but the underlying reasons for his jihadist group's existence remain and attacks in the Middle East and beyond are not likely to stop.

Baghdadi's death at the hands of the United States is likely to cause Islamic State to splinter, leaving whoever emerges as its new leader with the task of pulling the ultra hardline group back together as a fighting force.

Whether the loss of its leader will in itself affect the group's capabilities is open to doubt, analysts in the region say. Even if it does face difficulties in the leadership transition, the underlying ideology and the sectarian hatred it promoted remains attractive to many.

Where once they rode around in armored vehicles, brandished rifles, flew black flags and indulged in acts of spectacular cruelty, the Sunni Muslim militants are now prisoners or scattered stragglers whose leader was chased down in a tunnel during a raid by American special forces.

"Operationally it doesn't affect much, they are already broken and globally their attacks have receded," said Rashad Ali, resident senior fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think-tank. "They are mostly concentrated in the Iraqi-Syria borderlands."

"It doesn't make much of a difference other than the symbolism," he said. "If you think taking out one terrorist (matters) while failing to address the root causes that led this ideology to take hold, you are mistaken."

But some of those grievances are very much on show today. Sunni Muslims in Iraq are angered at their treatment by a ruling Shi'ite elite they see as under the influence of Iran and the Iranian-backed militias that now roam their provinces unchecked.

RECRUITMENT

In Syria, recruitment to groups such as Islamic State is encouraged by the killing of Sunnis by Syrian government forces backed by Iran and Russia.

Islamic State's effectiveness arises from its members' loyalty to its ultra-fanatical Islamist ideology, and this may not be much affected by the killing of its leader, said Fadhil Abu Ragheef, an Iraqi political analyst and security expert.

He said Islamic State's 9-man Shura Council, or leadership group, was expected to meet and appoint a leader from among five candidates.

Among the front runners are Abu Abdullah al-Jizrawi, a Saudi, and Abdullah Qaradash, an Iraqi and one of Baghdadi's right-hand men, also a former army officer under Saddam Hussein. Also mentioned is Abu Othman al-Tunisi, a Tunisian.

"The new leader will start working to pull together the group's power by relying on new recruits and fighters who fled the prisons in Syria. He is expected to launch a series of retaliatory attacks for the killing of Baghdadi," said Abu Ragheef.

It is possible that whoever takes over as the head of the group, which experts say has been beset by internal disputes, will cause it to splinter within months because he is unacceptable on grounds of nationality to some factions.

"For sure they will fight among themselves over resources. I predict the Iraqi faction will win because they have more money," said Iraqi analyst Hisham al-Hashemi, an expert on jihadist groups.

A security source with knowledge of militant groups in Iraq said the killing of Baghdadi would splinter the group's command structure because of differences between senior figures and lack of confidence among group members who were forced to go underground when the caliphate collapsed.

"We are aware that killing Baghdadi will not lead to the disappearance of Islamic State because eventually they will pick someone for the job," the source said. "But at same time whoever follows Baghdadi will not be in a position to keep the group united."

OPERATIONS

The new leader will attempt to restructure the group by encouraging followers to launch operations not only in Iraq but in other countries to raise morale among existing and new followers, the source said.

By franchising its name, Islamic State has attracted followers in Africa, Asia and Europe. Incidents such as one in London, where attackers used easily obtained weapons such as motor vehicles and knives, show that lack of organisational backing is not an obstacle.

In South East Asia, where Islamic State has spread its influence, officials believe the group's ideas will have to be fought even after Baghdadi's death.

"His death will have little impact here as the main problem remains the spread of the Islamic State ideology," Malaysian police counter-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay told Reuters.

"What we are most worried about now are 'lone wolf' attacks and those who are self-radicalized through the internet. We are still seeing the spread of IS teachings online. IS publications and magazines from years ago are being reproduced and re-shared," he said.

In Iraq, where Baghdadi proclaimed his caliphate from the Grand al-Nuri Mosque in 2014, authorities have pursued a policy of taking out senior Islamic State figures as an effective way of keeping the group on the back foot.

Hashemi argues that more is needed.

"They have the ability to regroup. The way to stop that is through real fostering of democracy and civil society, truly addressing grievances, in short, creating an environment that repels terrorism," he said.

"Killing leaders is definitely a good thing but it does not prevent their return, only creating such an environment does," he added. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Aboulenein; Writing by Giles Elgood, Editing by William Maclean)

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Saudi says Baghdadi 'distorted' image of Islam

Saudi Arabia said Monday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had distorted the image of Islam, and hailed his killing by US special forces in northwestern Syria.

"The kingdom appreciates the US administration's efforts to pursue members of this terrorist organisation that distorted the real image of Islam... and committed atrocities and crimes," said a Saudi foreign ministry source, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

"Saudi Arabia continues its efforts with its allies, especially the United States, in fighting terrorism," the source added.

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Baghdadi had died "like a dog" in an overnight raid by US special forces in Syria.

Trump said many IS jihadists had been killed in the raid and that Baghdadi had detonated a suicide vest when he was cornered in a tunnel.

IS had seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, imposing a violent form of Islamic rule on some seven million residents of its "caliphate", headed by Baghdadi.

The Iraqi, believed to be 48 years old, was rarely seen during his years as leader of the group, last appearing in a propaganda video in April.

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Islamic State head Baghdadi believed dead after US strike: US media

WASHINGTON -- Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was believed to be dead after a US military raid in Syria's Idlib region, US media reported early Sunday.

Baghdadi may have killed himself with a suicide vest as US special operations forces descended, media said citing multiple government sources.

He was the target of the secretly planned operation that was approved by President Donald Trump, officials said.

Long pursued by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS), Baghdadi has been erroneously reported dead several times in recent years.

Officials told ABC News that biometric work was underway to firm up the identification of those killed in the raid.

The White House announced Trump would make a "major statement" Sunday at 9 a.m., without providing details.

Trump earlier tweeted, without explaining, "Something very big has just happened!"

Baghdadi, a native of Iraq and around 48 years old, led Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, taking credit for suicide bombings and other attacks targeting Shiites and moderate Sunnis that left thousands dead over 2010-2013.

He then broke with Al-Qaeda and announced his own, more aggressive jihadist group named Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (alternately, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) that aimed to establish its own deeply conservative Islamic nation, or Caliphate, on territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border.

The group's rule was notoriously brutal, and it was globally condemned as a "terrorist organization," blamed for the deaths of thousands of civilians -- in summary executions and beheadings -- and accused of war crimes.

Baghdadi though was rarely seen. 

After 2014, he disappeared from sight, only surfacing in a video in April this year with a wiry grey and red beard and an assault rifle at his side, as he encouraged followers to "take revenge" for IS members who had been killed. 

It was seen as a reassertion of his leadership of a group that, while it had lost its physical territory, had spread from the Middle East to Asia and Africa, promoting the violent ideology he preached. 

But Baghdadi remained on the run as the US-led coalition slowly destroyed IS and focused on tracking down the leadership. The US State Department posted a $25-million reward for information on his whereabouts.

Under al-Baghdadi, the State Department said, IS "has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East, including the brutal murder of numerous civilian hostages from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States."

In September, the group released an audio message said to be from Baghdadi praising the operations of Islamic State affiliates in other regions.

It also called on scattered IS fighters to regroup and try to free thousands of their comrades captured by the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria.

Idlib is known as a bastion of the Syrian operations of Al-Qaeda -- a group Baghdadi continued to view as a rival -- leaving experts puzzled by the reports that the IS leader died in the northwest province, in Barisha village.

"If Baghdadi was indeed in Barisha, it will be interesting to understand how he managed to even get there (through Syria or through Turkey?), and how it was possible for him to stay there," tweeted Michael Horowitz, a Middle East security analyst with the Le Beck consultancy.

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At least 28 killed in mosque blast in Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - At least 28 worshippers were killed and dozens wounded by a blast inside an Afghan mosque during Friday prayers, officials said, a day after the United Nations said violence in the country had reached "unacceptable" levels.

The explosion, which witnesses said collapsed the mosque's roof, took place in eastern Nangarhar province and wounded at least 55 people, provincial governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

He said the dead were "all worshippers" in the blast in Haska Mina district, roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the provincial capital Jalalabad.

A doctor at a hospital in Haska Mina gave a slightly higher toll, telling AFP that "around" 32 bodies had been brought in, along with 50 wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Nangarhar province.

Witnesses said the roof of the mosque had fallen through after the "loud" explosion, the nature of which was not immediately clear.

"Dozens of people were killed and wounded and were taken in several ambulances," Haji Amanat Khan, a 65-year-old local resident, told AFP.

The blast came after the UN released a new report on Thursday saying an "unprecedented" number of civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan from July to September.

The report, which also charts violence throughout 2019 so far, underscores how "Afghans have been exposed to extreme levels of violence for many years" despite promises by all sides to "prevent and mitigate harm to civilians."

It also noted the absurdity of the ever-increasing price paid by civilians given the widespread belief that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won by either side.

"Civilian casualties are totally unacceptable," said the UN's special representative in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, adding they demonstrate the importance of talks leading to a ceasefire and a permanent political settlement.

The figures - 1,174 deaths and 3,139 injured from July 1 until September 30 - represent a 42-percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The UN laid most of the blame for the spike at the feet of "anti-government elements" such as the Taliban, who have been carrying out a bloody insurgency in Afghanistan for more than 18 years.

July alone saw more casualties than in any other month on record since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) began documenting the violence in 2009.

The first six months of 2019 had seen casualties drop slightly compared to previous years.

But the violence has surged so far in the third quarter that it yanked the overall total for the year back on par with the bloodiest since NATO withdrew its combat forces at the end of 2014.

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Kurdish forces: Not enough guards at Syria camp holding Islamic State families

BEIRUT - Kurdish-led security forces do not have enough guards for the Ain Issa camp that holds families of Islamic State militants and dozens of them have escaped since Turkish shelling struck the area, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces said.

Already weakened by the redeployment of forces to front lines, the guarding of the camp was further depleted on Sunday when Turkish shells crashed nearby, prompting some of the remaining personnel to flee, SDF official Marvan Qamishlo said.

"The guarding is very weak now," he told Reuters, saying that there were now just 60-70 security personnel at the camp compared with a normal level of no less than 700.

The camp holds some 12,000 displaced people including some relatives of IS militants and ideally would require 1,500 guards, he said. "We don't have this sufficient number."

Advances by Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies had compounded the concerns of security personnel in the camp, giving rise to fears the site could be encircled, Qamishlo said.

"What is a security person going to do? They are not special forces or SDF." 

(Reporting by Tom Perry Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Trump: Syrian Kurds 'didn't help us in Normandy'

WASHINGTON - Syrian Kurds facing a Turkish military operation did not "help us in Normandy," US President Donald Trump said Wednesday, defending his widely-criticized decision to clear the way for the assault.

The Kurdish forces -- which the US partnered to combat the Islamic State group in Syria -- are "fighting for their land," Trump said.

"As somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy as an example," he said.

The president was apparently referring to a piece by a columnist on the conservative Townhall website supporting Trump's decision to pull American forces back from Syria's northern frontier, which opened the way for the Turkish operation.

The Kurds "are there to help us with their land, and that's a different thing," said Trump.

"We have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay. With all of that being said, we like the Kurds," he added.

Brett McGurk, who served as the US envoy to the international coalition against the Islamic State group, has in the past disputed Trump's assertions on that subject, saying that the "weapons provided were meager" and "nearly all stabilization funding came from the @coalition."

ISIS FIGHTERS TO ESCAPE TO EUROPE?

Trump's abrupt move on Sunday to remove 50 U.S. troops out of northern Syria, which has allowed Turkey to attack America's Kurdish allies unimpeded, has drawn sharp fire from many Republican lawmakers who are normally his strong supporters.

Trump: US going into Middle East was 'worst decision ever'
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As Turkey launched an attack on Kurdish militia positions on Wednesday, Trump aligned himself with anti-war voices in the Republican Party like Senator Rand Paul, saying the United States should have never been involved in conflicts in the Middle East in the first place.

Pressed on the situation by reporters during a White House event, Trump said he was open to imposing sanctions on Turkey if the Turks do not treat the Kurds humanely.

Asked what he would do if Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan were to wipe out the Kurds, Trump said: “I will wipe out his economy if he does that."

The Trump pullout has prompted bipartisan concerns that some of the thousands of Islamic State fighters held by Kurdish-led forces might escape in the chaos surrounding the Turkish incursion.

Trump said many of these fighters are of European origin and that he had given European nations four chances to take responsibility for them.

Asked if he had any concerns that some of these ISIS fighters could escape and pose a threat elsewhere, Trump adopted a dismissive tone.

"Well, they're going to be escaping to Europe. That's where they want to go," he said.

Reaction to Trump's move has enraged many Republicans and Democrats.

U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a national security hawk and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement that Trump's decision would have "sickening and predictable consequences."

"The U.S. is abandoning our ally the Kurds, who fought ISIS on the ground and helped protect the U.S. homeland. This decision aids America’s adversaries, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, and paves the way for a resurgence of ISIS. This action imperils American security and that of our allies. Congress must and will act to limit the catastrophic impact of this decision," she said.

Trump cast his decision as in line with his long-held belief that the United States cannot be the world's policeman and must bring some troops home.

But it comes as he needs as much Republican support as possible to fight an impeachment inquiry launched by Democrats who control the U.S. House of Representatives based on his attempt to get Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is one of Trump's closest confidants in Congress and a frequent golf partner, has angrily split with Trump over Syria.

"This is the pre-9/11 mentality that paved the way for 9/11: 'What’s happening in Afghanistan is no concern to us.' So if he follows through with this, it’d be the biggest mistake of his presidency," Graham told Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends."

Graham said on Twitter that he would lead an effort in Congress "to make Erdogan pay a heavy price" for the incursion. With reports by Reuters and Agence France-Presse

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West African leaders pledge $1 billion to fight Islamist threat

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - West African leaders have pledged $1 billion to combat the spiraling threat of Islamist militancy in the region, the head of the regional ECOWAS bloc said on Saturday.

Groups with links to Al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region this year, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The fifteen members of the West African bloc and the presidents of Mauritania and Chad had gathered for an extraordinary summit in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, to address the growing insecurity.

ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said the commission had decided to "contribute financially and urgently to joint efforts in the fight against terrorism" by pledging $1 billion.

In a speech following the closed meeting, Brou also called on the United Nations to strengthen its MINUSMA peacekeeping mission, which has been based in Mali since 2013.

In July, the U.N. said Islamist attacks were spreading so fast in West Africa that the region should consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.

In 2017, five countries - Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali and Mauritania - backed by France, launched the G5 Sahel taskforce to combat the insurgents. But the initiative has been perennially underfunded.

The situation in Burkina Faso has deteriorated in particular in recent weeks. An attack in late August killed 24 soldiers, one of the heaviest losses yet in the nation's fight against Islamist militants. Last week, 29 people were killed in separate attacks in its troubled central-northern region.

Once a pocket of relative calm in the Sahel, Burkina has suffered a homegrown insurgency for the past three years, which has been amplified by a spillover of jihadist violence and criminality from its chaotic neighbor Mali.

Large swathes of Burkina's north are now out of control, and France's military Sahel mission began limited operations there earlier this year.

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3 arrested over central Sydney 'terror plots'

SYDNEY -- Australian police on Tuesday arrested three men accused of links to the Islamic State group over an alleged plot to attack police stations, embassies and defense facilities in central Sydney.

The men -- aged 20, 23 and 30 -- were arrested in raids in the city's suburbs after their online activities raised suspicion.

Two of them will face charges of being members of a terrorist organization and of preparations to carry out terror attacks.

"We will say that they had a number of targets, including police stations, defense establishments, embassies and councils, courts and churches," Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Ian McCartney told reporters.

The plots were said to be in the "early stages", but included moves to import weapons and explosives to target facilities in the central business district.

The third man -- described as an "associate" -- will be charged with lesser offences.

New South Wales police assistant commissioner Mick Willing said the men "knew each other via social media" including WhatsApp and Telegram, and shared a "like-minded philosophy".

Late last year, Australia passed controversial laws allowing spy agencies and police to access encrypted communications from suspected criminals and terrorists.

Police said one of the suspects had come under the watch of authorities after returning from Lebanon last year, alleging he had made plans to go to Afghanistan to fight with the Islamic State.

Police said there was no further threat to the public.

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A month after IS 'caliphate' defeated, challenges aplenty

BEIRUT -- Sleeper cells, prisons teeming with jihadists, camps crammed with their wives and children -- perils abound in Syria, nearly a month after the Islamic State group's "caliphate" was declared defeated.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced victory over the IS proto-state on March 23, after a nearly 5-year battle against the militant group.

The elimination of the physical "caliphate" closed a long chapter in the Syrian conflict, but the SDF and the US-led military coalition have warned the fight is far from over.

IS is still able "to carry out regular attacks on a weekly basis", said Tore Hamming, an expert on jihadist movements at the European University Institute.

Even after losing their last scrap of territory in the eastern village of Baghuz, the jihadists retain a presence in Syria's vast desert and hideouts elsewhere in the country.

This week alone, IS militants killed 35 fighters loyal to Syria's government in 48 hours -- feeding into a regime death toll over 2 days in excess of 60 at the hands of all jihadist factions -- the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Before that, on April 9, IS claimed a double bombing that killed 13 people in the SDF-held city of Raqa.

The White House has said that it would keep 400 US troops in Syria "for a period of time", after initially shocking allies in December by announcing a full withdrawal of 2,000 soldiers.

But Hamming said this diminished contingent would struggle to deal with the lingering jihadist threat.

"IS is still very active and will remain so. The small number of US forces will not solve that entirely," he said.

'BREEDING GROUNDS'

Nicholas Heras, an analyst at the Center for a New American Security, warns that IS still holds sizable sway over "networks of local support".

"A big part of the ISIS strategy to regrow is that it continues to have strong ties into some of the local tribes in eastern Syria and western Iraq," he said, using an alternative acronym for the jihadist group.

As both regime and US-backed forces seek to hunt down IS sleeper cells on the run, the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria face another major challenge.

Thousands of alleged jihadist fighters -- including hundreds of foreigners -- are now being held in Kurdish-run jails, while their relatives languish in overcrowded camps for the displaced.

Their numbers have created a major headache for the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, which now wants to put suspected jihadists on trial.

"We have called for an international tribunal to be formed to try these terrorists," top foreign affairs official Abdel Karim Omar told AFP.

"Our priority is to try the criminals," he said.

Since 2014, IS fighters have been accused of carrying out beheadings, mass executions, rapes, abductions, and ethnic cleansing.

They stand accused of stoning to death women suspected of adultery, and forcing homosexuals off the top of high buildings.

While many jihadists are now detained, they still pose a threat, according to experts.

"These detention centers are becoming breeding grounds for radicalization," the Soufan Center said in a report published on April 12.

"There is also a major risk of IS-engineered prison break attempts," said the organisation, which specializes in security analysis.

Hamming said "neither Syria nor Iraq have the resources or the political stability to properly handle such a large number of prisoners".

'FUTURE TERRORISTS'

Kurdish authorities are calling on the international community to help set up and guard new high-security detention facilities, after many Western states refused to take back their nationals.

In a rare exception on Saturday, Kosovo repatriated 4 men suspected of having fought for IS in Syria, among 110 of its citizens.

Syria's Kurds are also calling for much more support for displacement camps, where tens of thousands of people have amassed after fleeing battles against IS.

The camps host 12,000 foreigners -- 4,000 women and 8,000 children -- who are kept under surveillance, according to Omar.

The largest of these camps, Al-Hol, has seen its population swell to more than 73,000 people, with conditions deteriorating as a result of the mass influx.

The International Rescue Committee has reported severe acute malnutrition, pneumonia, and dehydration among children in the camp.

The United Nations says 211 children under the age of 5 have died on their way to Al-Hol or shortly after arrival since December.

The Soufan Center warned the humanitarian crisis could be used as a recruitment tool.

IS "fighters are seeking ways to capitalize on the suffering in these camps to rejuvenate their organization", it said.

As for the offspring of alleged foreign jihadists, said Omar, "if these children are not sent home, re-educated and re-integrated into society, they will become future terrorists."

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Iraqi Christians celebrate Christmas one year after Islamic State defeat

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Christians quietly celebrated Christmas on Tuesday amid improved security, more than a year after the country declared victory over Islamic State militants who threatened to end their 2,000-year history in Iraq.

Christianity in Iraq dates back to the first century of the Christian era, when the apostles Thomas and Thaddeus are believed to have preached the Gospel on the fertile flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

Iraq is home to many different eastern rite churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, traditionally a sign of the country's ethnic and religious diversity.

But war and sectarian conflict shrank Iraq's Christian population from 1.5 million to about 400,000 after the US-led invasion in 2003. Following the onslaught of Islamic State in 2014 and the brutal three-year war that followed their numbers have fallen further, though it is not known exactly by how much.

In Baghdad, Christians celebrated mass on Tuesday morning -- declared a national holiday by government -- in churches decorated for Christmas. Once fearful, they said they were now hopeful, since conditions had improved.

"Of course we can say the security situation is better than in previous years," said Father Basilius, leader of the St George Chaldean Church in Baghdad where more than a hundred congregants attended Christmas mass.

"We enjoy security and stability mainly in Baghdad. In addition, Daesh was beaten," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Iraq declared victory over the militants more than a year ago, but the damage done to Christian enclaves on the Nineveh Plains has been extensive.

In Qaraqosh, a town also known as Hamdaniya which lies 15 km (10 miles) west of Mosul, the damage is still visible.

At the city's Immaculate Church, which belongs to the Syrian Catholic denomination and has not yet been rebuilt since the militants set it on fire in 2014, Christians gathered for midnight mass on Monday, surrounded by blackened walls still tagged with Islamic State graffiti.

Dozens of worshippers prayed and received communion, and then gathered around the traditional bonfire in the church's courtyard.

Before the militant onslaught, Qaraqosh was the largest Christian settlement in Iraq, with a population of more than 50,000. But today only a few hundred families have returned.

Faced with a choice to convert, pay a tax or die, many Christians in the Nineveh Plains fled to nearby towns and cities and some eventually moved abroad.

Some have since returned, Father Butros said, adding: "We hope that all displaced families will return." (Reporting by Reuters Video News; writing by Raya Jalabi Editing by Gareth Jones)

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Iran vows 'crushing response' after gunmen kill 29 at army parade

TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing" response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday at a military parade near the Iraqi border.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States.

Behrad Ghasemi, a local journalist who witnessed the attack, said shots rang out for 10 to 15 minutes and that at least one of the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, wore the uniform of Iran's Revolutionary Guards force.

"First we thought it's part of the parade, but after about 10 seconds we realised it was a terrorist attack as bodyguards (of officials) started shooting," he told AFP.

"Everything went haywire and soldiers started running."

"I saw a 4-year old child get shot, and also a lady. The terrorists had no particular target and didn't really seem to care as they shot anyone they could with rapid gunfire."

After addressing a similar parade in Tehran to commemorate the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Rouhani warned that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing".

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack was carried out by "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime".

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks," he wrote on his Twitter account.

Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN 

IS said via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that "Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces" in Ahvaz.

SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist websites reported that IS said the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region.

State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while the official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children who were spectators at the rally. 

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals, citing "the conspiracy of regional governments that are American lackeys and who aim to create insecurity in our dear country".

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said three attackers were killed at the scene and the fourth died later of his injuries.

SUPPORT FROM ALLIES 

Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah condemned the "terrorist" attack, saying that "repulsive Satanic hands" were behind it.

"This operation was a continuation of the other forms of war the United States and its allies are waging, directly or indirectly, first and foremost the oppressive economic sanctions," it said.

In a message of condolence to Russia's close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was "appalled by this bloody crime" which was a reminder of the "necessity of an uncompromising battle against terrorism".

Syria, another ally, said it stood in "full sympathy and solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran", while neighboring Turkey expressed "great sorrow" at what it called "a heinous terrorist attack".

The French foreign ministry condemned the attack and sent condolences to the families of the victims and to the Iranian people.

Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on regime targets in major cities are rare.

On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.

In April, 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial in connection with the attacks.

ROUHANI DEFIANT 

The attack in Ahvaz came as Rouhani and other dignitaries attended the main anniversary parade in Tehran.

In a keynote speech, he vowed to boost Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

"We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said. 

"The fact that the missiles anger (the West) shows they are our most effective weapons."

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has repeatedly said it cannot negotiate under pressure from sanctions.

Rouhani leaves Sunday for New York to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly along with Trump, but Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.

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U.S. urges help for Iraq, extends $3 billion credit line

* Iraq needs $88 billion to rebuild after three-year war

* U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson urges support

* Urges vigilance to prevent Islamic State returning

* Iraq to sign $3 billion MoU with EXIM Bank

* NATO says ready to expand training mission in Iraq 

KUWAIT - The United States on Tuesday urged members of the coalition fighting Islamic State to help rebuild Iraq or risk a reversal of the gains made against the group, and said it would extend to Baghdad a $3 billion credit line.

The United States leads the coalition and hopes that after a three-year fight to defeat the militants it can count largely on Gulf allies to shoulder the burden of rebuilding Iraq. It is also counting on a Saudi-Iraqi rapprochement to weaken Iran's influence there.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December, having taken back all the territory captured by the militants in 2014 and 2015. The fighters have also been largely defeated in neighboring Syria.

"If communities in Iraq and Syria cannot return to normal life, we risk the return of conditions that allowed ISIS to take and control vast territory," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a donors' conference for Iraq hosted by Kuwait. ISIS is another acronym for Islamic State.

"We must continue to clear unexploded remnants of war left behind by ISIS, enable hospitals to reopen, restore water and electricity services, and get boys and girls back in school."

Although the U.S. government was not expected to pledge direct financial aid at the conference, Tillerson said the official U.S. export credit agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), would sign with Iraq's finance ministry on Tuesday a $3 billion memorandum of understanding "that will set a stage for future cooperation".

Iraq has suffered from decades of war and it is striking that it is holding its reconstruction conference in Kuwait, which it invaded in 1990, leading to defeat by a U.S.-led coalition and more than a decade of sanctions.

Kuwait will celebrate Liberation Day from Iraq in two weeks and Iraq still pays it reparations.

BALANCING ACT 

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is pursuing a difficult diplomatic balancing act by trying to maintain good relations with both the United States and its Sunni Gulf Arab allies and with their main regional foe, Shi'ite Iran.

Arriving in Kuwait for the conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said his country would "stand by the Iraqi people forever".

"At a time when only a few countries were participating in the reconstruction of Iraq, Iranian companies were active in building roads in the country and providing Iraqis with engineering services," he was quoted by state news agency IRNA.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose government puts the costs of reconstruction at more than $88 billion , said Iraq could not rebuild without outside help.

Iraq has published a list of some 157 projects for which it is seeking investment. Baghdad has said it is determined to tackle the red tape and corruption that hamper investment.

"Doing business in Iraq can be complicated, but the Iraqi market has vast potential," said Tillerson.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was ready to answer a U.S. call for it to expand its small training mission in Iraq to support reconstruction.

Tillerson also cautioned that the end of major combat operations in Iraq did not mean the United States and its allies had achieved final victory over the militants.

"In Iraq and Syria, ISIS is attempting to morph into an insurgency. In places like Afghanistan, the Philippines, Libya, West Africa, and others, it is trying to carve out and secure safe havens," he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis echoed those comments, saying the fight against Islamic State had been discussed on Tuesday at a meeting in Rome of about a dozen coalition defense ministers.

"ISIS is not down, the fight is not over... not even the caliphate is completely down... We have to work against this ideology, we have to work against (the) financing," he said. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Christians worldwide prepare for holidays with an eye on security

JAKARTA - Christmas church services and other celebrations are being held this weekend under the gaze of armed guards and security cameras in many countries after Islamic State gunmen attacked a Methodist church in Pakistan as a Sunday service began.

Majority-Muslim countries in Asia and the Middle East were particularly nervous after United States President Donald Trump's recent announcement that he intends to relocate the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a decision that has outraged many Muslims.

In Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, police said they had stepped up security around churches and tourist sites, mindful of near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

Muslim volunteers in Indonesia are also on standby to provide additional security if requested.

"If our brothers and sisters who celebrate Christmas need to maintain their security to worship, we will help," said Yaqut Chiolil Qoumas, chairman of the youth wing of the Nahdlatul Ulema, one of the country's biggest Muslim organisations.

In Cairo, where a bombing at the Egyptian capital's largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people last December, the interior ministry said police would conduct regular searches of streets around churches ahead of the Coptic celebration of Christmas on Jan. 7.

Egypt's Christian minority has been targeted in several attacks in recent years, including the bombing of two churches in the north of the country on Palm Sunday in April.

At the Heliopolis Basilica, a Catholic cathedral in northeastern Cairo, security forces had set up metal detectors at the main doors and police vehicles were stationed outside ahead of masses on Dec. 25, which marks Christmas Day for Catholic and Protestant Christians.

German police brought in experts and an explosives robot to investigate a suspicious package at a Christmas market in the city of Bonn late on Friday.

Germany is on high alert a year after a failed Tunisian asylum seeker killed 12 people when he hijacked a truck and drove it into a Berlin Christmas market.

BOMBED-OUT CHURCH

In the Pakistani city of Quetta, members of a Bethel Memorial Methodist Church were repairing the damage done by a pair of suicide bombers who attacked during a service last Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding more than 50.

Broken pews and damaged musical instruments were still strewn around church grounds on Thursday, with about a dozen police standing guard.

"We're making efforts to complete repairs and renovation before Christmas, but it seems difficult in view of the lot of damage," said Pastor Simon Bashir, who was leading the service when the attackers struck. He was not hurt.

The government of Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is capital, plans to deploy 3,000 security personnel in and around 39 Christian churches this Sunday and Monday.

Provincial police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters volunteers from churches were also being trained to conduct body searches and identify worshippers entering churches.

Pakistan's Christian minority, which makes up about 1 percent of the population of 208 million, has been a frequent target, along with Shi'ite and Sufi Muslims, of Sunni Muslim militants.

In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, where an Easter Day bombing in a park last year killed more than 70 people, police Detective Inspector General Haider Ashraf said every church would be monitored with CCTV cameras as part of security measures.

Christian Kaleem Masih lost his aunt in the Easter attack, which was claimed by Islamic State, and his wife was wounded, but he said they would be attending Christmas services.

"Christmas is our holy day," Kaleem said. "We will fulfil our religious duty by celebrating it with smiles on our faces."

JERUSALEM ISSUE

In Malaysia, a police official said Trump's decision on Jerusalem increased worry about attacks.

"We are concerned not only with safety at churches and places of worship but also any threats by Islamic State or any other security threat following the Jerusalem issue," said Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun.

Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam's third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognised internationally.

Protests across the Muslim world in Asia and the Middle East have largely been peaceful.

In Jerusalem itself, an Israeli police spokesman said there were no new security measures but police would deploy forces as usual around Christian holy sites including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and also secure convoys of worshipers from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, traditionally known as the birthplace of Jesus Christ and run by the Palestinian Authority.

Many Palestinian Christians oppose Trump's announcement and say they have no fear of attacks.

"Trump's decision offended all Palestinians, be they Christians or Muslims. Why would we feel threatened by Muslims?" said George Antone, a Catholic who lives in Gaza, which is run by the Palestinian Hamas group.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Iraq holds victory parade after defeating Islamic State

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling "victory day" in Arabic.

Abadi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, listened solemnly to Quranic verses from a chapter titled al-Nasr, meaning victory.

Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria on Saturday and secured the western desert, marking the end of the war against the militants three years after they had captured about a third of Iraq's territory.

The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare.

Watching the parade on Sunday, state television showed Abadi sat on a throne-like chair placed between two Iraqi flags with the country's official seal behind him, and with all other officials sat at a distance from him.

Abadi declared Dec. 10 would be an annual national holiday. Fighter jets were seen and heard flying over Baghdad's skies.

An announcer introduced various factions who took on Islamic State as troops marched, tanks rolled by and helicopters hovered, all brandishing Iraqi flags as Abadi stood up and waved.

Those who fought were drawn from the army, air force, federal and local police, elite counter-terrorism forces, as well as Shi'ite and Sunni paramilitaries and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They received key air support from a US-led global coalition.

In his victory speech, delivered on Saturday, Abadi did not mention the Peshmerga, who played a big part in the fight against Islamic State.

The central government in Baghdad is in conflict with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government after the latter unilaterally held an independence referendum in September.

Instead Abadi hailed the Iranian-trained and backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a group of Shi'ite militias, many of whom are loyal to Iran.

He also said that the state should have a legitimate monopoly on arms, however. Disarming the PMF is seen as Abadi's greatest challenge after Islamic State's defeat.

The man who many saw as weak and ineffectual when he took over in 2014 from a predecessor who was blamed for the Islamic State takeover now heads towards an election next year as the commander who freed Iraqi lands.

Or as one Western diplomat described him - "the most popular man in Iraq."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Egypt mourns 305 victims of Sinai mosque attack

Egypt mourned on Saturday as the death toll from a gun and bomb assault at a mosque rose to 305, including children, in the deadliest attack the country has witnessed.

The state prosecution said up to 30 militants in camouflage flying the Islamic State (IS) group's black banner had surrounded the mosque in North Sinai and proceeded to massacre the worshippers during weekly Friday prayers.

Twenty-seven children were among the dead, it said.

IS, which is conducting a deadly insurgency in the Sinai, has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is the main suspect as the mosque is associated with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam whom it has branded heretics.

Funerals for the victims were held overnight and many were buried unwashed in their bloodied clothes, according to the Islamic burial practices for martyrs, security and medical officials said.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared three days of mourning and vowed to "respond with brutal force" to the attack, among the deadliest in the world since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"The army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period," he said in a televised speech.

Hours later Egyptian air force jets pursued the "terrorists and discovered several vehicles used in the terrorist attack, killing those inside near the vicinity of the attack," an army spokesman said in a statement.

The state prosecutor's office said in a statement that 305 people were killed and 128 wounded in the assault on the mosque roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the North Sinai capital of El-Arish.

It said the attackers, with long beards and hair often seen on jihadists, had arrived in five all-terrain vehicles to surround the mosque.

Witnesses said they heard gun shots and explosions before the assailants entered the mosque, according to the prosecution.

One of the wounded, Magdy Rizk, told AFP assailants wore masks and military uniforms, and that extremists had previously threatened people in the area.

Relatives visited victims in hospital in the city of Ismailia near the Suez Canal where the wounded were taken for treatment, an AFP photographer reported.

World leaders voiced outrage. US President Donald Trump denounced on Twitter the "horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenceless worshippers".

Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest institution of Sunni Islam, condemned "in the strongest terms this barbaric terrorist attack".


- IS targeting of Sufis -


The Egypt branch of IS has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, and also civilians accused of working with the authorities, in attacks in the north of the Sinai peninsula.

They have also targeted Sufis as well as Christians.

A tribal leader and head of a Bedouin militia that fights IS told AFP that the mosque is known as a place where Sufis gather.

IS views Sufis as heretics for seeking the intercession of saints.

The group has also killed more than 100 Christians in church bombings and shootings in Sinai and other parts of Egypt, forcing many to flee the peninsula.

The military has struggled to quell the jihadists who pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014.

The jihadists have since increasingly turned to civilian targets, attacking not only Christians and Sufis but also Bedouin Sinai inhabitants accused of working with the army.

The group also claimed the bombing of a Russian plane that killed all 224 people on board after takeoff from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 31, 2015.

Aside from IS, Egypt also faces a threat from Al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists who operate out of neighbouring Libya.

A group calling itself Ansar al-Islam -- Supporters of Islam in Arabic -- claimed an October ambush in Egypt's Western Desert that killed at least 16 policemen.

The military later conducted air strikes on the attackers, killing their leader.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

ISIS claims responsibility for Barcelona van attack that left several dead

BARCELONA -- A van ploughed into crowds in the heart of Barcelona on Thursday and Spanish media reported at least 13 people were killed.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq news agency said.

"The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states," the agency said, referring to a United States-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.

Regional authorities said one death had been confirmed so far, with 32 injured, 10 seriously. But radio station Cadena Ser cited police sources as saying the death toll was much higher.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse quoting a regional minister, 13 were dead and 50 were hurt.

Police said they said were searching for the driver of the van who, according to local media, fled the scene on foot.

Spanish newspaper El Periodico said two armed men were holed up in a bar in Barcelona's city center, and reported gunfire in the area, though it did not cite the source of the information.

It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were connected.

A source familiar with the initial US government assessment said the incident appeared to be terrorism, and a White House spokeswoman said President Donald Trump was being kept abreast of the situation.
Trump said the US stood ready to help Spanish authorities after what he called a "terror attack" in Barcelona.

Media reports said the van had zigzagged at speed down the famous Las Ramblas avenue, a magnet for tourists.

"I heard screams and a bit of a crash and then I just saw the crowd parting and this van going full pelt down the middle of the Ramblas and I immediately knew that it was a terrorist attack or something like that," eyewitness Tom Gueller told the BBC.

"It wasn't slowing down at all. It was just going straight through the middle of the crowds in the middle of the Ramblas."

Mobile phone footage posted on Twitter showed several bodies strewn along the Ramblas, some motionless. Paramedics and bystanders bent over them, treating them and trying to comfort those still conscious.

Around them, the boulevard was deserted, covered in rubbish and abandoned objects including hats, flip-flops, bags and a pram.

"We saw a white van collide with people. We saw people going flying because of the collision, we also saw three cyclists go flying," Ellen Vercamm, on holiday in Barcelona, told El Pais newspaper.


TOURIST DRAW

Emergency services said people should not go to the area around Barcelona's Placa Catalunya, one of the city's main squares at the top of the Ramblas, and requested the closure of nearby train and metro stations.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he was in contact with authorities, and the priority was to attend to the injured.

The incident took place at the height of the tourist season in Barcelona, which is one of Europe's top travel destinations with at least 11 million visitors a year.

Vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of militant attacks across Europe since July 2016, killing well over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm.

Witness Ethan Spibey told Britain's Sky News: "All of sudden it was real chaos. People just started running screaming, there were loud bangs. People just started running into shops, there was a kind of mini-stampede where we were, down one of the alleyways."

He said he had taken refuge with dozens of other people in a nearby church.

"They've locked the doors because I'm not sure whether the person who may have done it has actually been caught, so they've locked the doors and told people just to wait in here."

Authorities in Vic, a small town outside Barcelona, said a van had been found there in connection with the attack. Spanish media had earlier reported that a second van had been hired as a getaway vehicle.

Barcelona is the capital of the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, which plans to hold a popular vote on Oct. 1 on whether it should secede from Spain. It is in dispute with the central government, which says the vote cannot go ahead because it is unconstitutional.

If Spanish media reports of at least 13 killed are confirmed, it would be the deadliest in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800. (Reporting by Madrid newsroom, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Tattersall) -- With a report from Agence France-Presse

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Military says some Maute militants may have slipped out of Marawi

MARAWI CITY- The Philippines military said on Friday that some of the Islamist militants who stormed Marawi City in the south of the country last month may have mingled with evacuees to slip away during the battle that has raged for nearly four weeks.

Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said security had been tightened in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro and the authorities there were on the lookout for suspicious characters who might "attempt to sow some confusion or sow terror".

"We're not denying that there's probably a few who may have slipped along with the evacuees from Marawi going to Iligan and Cagayan de Oro," he told reporters in Manila, while OV-10 aircraft in Marawi pounded an area where militants have been holed up since May 23.

The military says that up to 200 fighters, most of them from local insurgent groups that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State but also some foreign fighters, are holding out, using civilians as human shields and mosques as safe havens.

The attempt by hundreds of well-armed militants to overrun and seal off the city has alarmed governments across Southeast Asia, which fear that Islamic State - losing ground in Iraq and Syria - is trying to establish a foothold in their region that could bring a rash of extremist violence.

The defense ministers and military chiefs of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines will meet in the Indonesian town of Tarakan, on Borneo island, on Monday to discuss the threat and agree on steps to coordinate better to confront terrorism.

A port town, Tarakan is just south of the Malaysian side of Borneo and looks out across the sea to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, a sprawling island that has been plagued by insurgencies and banditry for decades.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Padilla told reporters that talk of fighters planning attacks in neighboring towns was based on "misinformation that's being spread by the enemies" and in fact their capacity was severely reduced.

In a battle assessment on Friday, the military said those still in the town were also weakening.

"Enemy resistance continues to dwindle and enemy-held areas continues to get smaller as troops advance," it said, but giving no indication of how long it might take to retake the town.

Previous deadlines to defeat the insurgents were missed.

More than 300 people have been killed in the battle for Marawi, according to official estimates, including 225 militants, 59 soldiers and 26 civilians.

A politician who has led rescue and relief efforts said on Thursday that residents fleeing Marawi had seen at least 100 dead bodies in an area where the fighting had been fierce. The military said it could not confirm that number.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Flags at half-mast as nation mourns Marawi heroes, victims

In an advisory, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said flags are flown at half-mast after the high noon tribute “as a symbol of respect and mourning to our fallen men and the civilians who died.”

Malacanang also encouraged the public to pay homage to the fallen soldiers, whose names were flashed on television stations and read over the radio at 12 noon Monday.

“We would likewise remember all the innocent victims who perished as a result of rebel atrocities committed,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

“We enjoin the public to honor these heroes and civilians and pray for them and the families they left behind.”

Government agencies, meanwhile, will begin flying the flag at half-mast starting Tuesday, June 13, the first working day of the week.

“We ask all Filipinos of all faiths and ethnic groups to say a short prayer for our heroes and innocent victims who perished, for the soldiers and the civilians who are still in the battlefield, and for peace and unity for the Philippines,” the AFP said in its advisory.

Fifty-eight members of the police and military have been killed in the fight to retake Marawi City from the Maute group--terrorists who have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law after local terrorist groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf, aided by local and foreign cohorts, laid siege to Marawi in an apparent bid to create an Islamic State province in the country.

The clashes started as government troops were attempting to arrest top Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon. The military said the terrorists were planning to launch an attack during the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, and the arrest was a move to preempt it.

About 1,000 locals, fearing to get caught in the middle of crossfire, are believed to be trapped in their houses as the terrorists held key spots in the city.

The militants are also taking with them scores of hostages who are being used as human shields. This has proved to be a major obstacle for government troops hoping to end the siege soon.

In defiance of the terrorists who continue to hold their ground, government troops in Marawi on Monday raised the Philippine flag in key areas in the city.

source: news.abs-cbn.com