Philippines says 11 ISIS sympathizers killed in southern siege
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Government troops have killed at least 11 members of a rebel group in the southern Philippines that has pledged allegiance to ISIS, the military said, sending local communities fleeing as a battle raged on Sunday.
The Maute Group, one of a handful of small militant groups behind years of unrest in the south, had since Saturday occupied parts of a municipality in Lanao del Sur and were holed up in an abandoned town hall.
At least four soldiers were wounded in the clashes and there were unconfirmed reports that the group had raised the black ISIS flag in the hall, said Marine Colonel Edgard Arevalo, a military spokesman. "This was expected since they have long been professing allegiance to the foreign terror group," he said. "This is still part of the Maute Group's agenda in courting support and encouraging similar-minded individuals to support ISIS," he said.
