Seven military bodyguards of President Rodrigo Duterte and two other soldiers were wounded on November 29 in an ambush by suspected Islamic militants on the eve of his planned visit to the southern Philippines, the military and president said. / AFP PHOTO / RICHEL UMEL
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte said he would push through with his planned trip to Marawi City in Lanao del Sur even after the ambush on his advance party Wednesday where seven of his aides from the Presidential Security Group and two soldiers were wounded.
Duterte said he would also take the same route taken by his aides, going against the advice of his top men not to push through with the trip because it was too dangerous.
“My advance party was ambushed a while ago. The Presidential Security Group was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device),” Duterte said in a speech Tuesday (November 29) during a visit to a northern Philippines military camp.
“But I’m going there. The advice was to postpone it (the trip), but I said no. I’ll go there and if possible take the same route,” Duterte added without explaining the purpose of his trip.
Seven military bodyguards of the President and two other soldiers were wounded Tuesday in an ambush by suspected Islamic militants on the eve of his planned visit to the southern Philippines.
The President said he would check on the PSG men and soldiers injured in the blast.
Military spokesmen said a bomb hit the soldiers’ convoy as it drove on a road in a southern region where an armed group which had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group operated, wounding nine.
The convoy that was attacked in Marawi city also included local troops as well as staff members of the presidential communications office, though no civilians were hurt, military officials said.
The planned Duterte visit came days after the military began operations against dozens of armed members of the Maute group holed up in an abandoned government building in the mainly Muslim rural town of Butig on Mindanao island.
Butig is about 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Manila, and an hour-long drive from Marawi.
Fifteen soldiers were injured in the fighting while 35 militants were killed, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told AFP.
The ambush came a day after the police said the Maute group left a bomb near the US embassy in Manila which authorities later safely exploded.
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The Maute gang was also blamed for a bombing in Duterte’s home town in the southern city of Davao in September that killed 15 people.
Padilla said it was likely the Maute group was behind Tuesday’s ambush.
“We know their supporters are surrounding the area and possibly planted bombs on the side of the roads to disrupt the movement of troop reinforcements,” Padilla said.
The President said government forces would continue to attack the stronghold of the Maute group who have been tagged in the Davao City bombing, as well as in the recent failed bomb try near the US Embassy.
On Monday, Duterte said IS, which controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, had linked up with the Maute gang, a departure from previous military denials of formal links between IS and local extremist groups.
(With a report from Agence France Presse)
