Dozens of Philippine police missing after clashes

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (AA) - At least 70 Philippine policemen remain missing since clashes broke out between security forces and Daesh-linked terrorists last month, a senior officer said on Monday.

Dozens of officers from the province of Lanao in Mindanao are still unaccounted for since fighting broke out in Marawi City on May 23.

The missing police had been providing support to soldiers battling hundreds of combined Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists led by Isnilion Hapilon and the Maute brothers, backed by foreign Daesh members.

"We have not accounted for all of them, but we continue searching for them. We cannot say their exact number, but our last tally was at 70 for the whole [of] Lanao," Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said on dzMM radio station Monday.

Asked if the missing policemen were being held hostage by Maute terrorists, Sindac replied: "We are not discounting the possibility that they are being held hostage."

Sindac said these officers are likely trapped in Marawi after extremists took over several vital installations and launched a siege on residents.

He also said some policemen may have failed to report for duty due to closed roads.

The military said fighting in Marawi City entered its 21st day on Monday, with 191 Daesh-linked militants, 29 civilians and almost 60 government troops killed.

Last Saturday, government troops suffered their largest single loss in the nearly month-long offensive when 13 Marines, including two junior officers, died, and dozens others were wounded in a 16-hour gun battle.