CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Air Force F50 fighter jets bombed suspected camps of the Maute-ISIS group as the military launched a brigade-sized operation in Maguing, Lanao del Sur before dawn Tuesday.Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commanding general of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade based in Marawi City, said two Dawlah Islamiya members were killed while three soldiers were wounded in the initial fighting in the hinterlands of Maguing town Tuesday.
The air raids, which took place between 2 and 3 a.m., woke up Marawi and Iligan City residents, who said they were surprised of the jets circling in the sky above them, reminiscent of the air raids during the Marawi siege in 2017. A file photo of the PAF’s FA50 on a bombing sortie during the Marawi siege in June 2017. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
Meranaw civic leader Drieza Lindinding, convenor of the Moro Consensus Group, said many Marawi residents were worried because even though Maguing is almost 30 kilometers away, they felt the explosions in the wee hours of the morning.