Philippines says militants had planned much larger-scale attack

REUTERS, 07th JUNE, 2017
Philippines troops thwarted an original plan drawn up by the Islamist militants now holed up in Marawi City to “spread terror” in a rampage of violence that would have given them full control of the southern town, the military said on Wednesday.

“There was indeed a bigger plan and it was supposed to wreak more havoc,” military spokesman Restituto Padilla told a news conference as aerial bombing resumed against fighters who have sworn allegiance to the ultra-radical Islamic State.

Philippine senators said members of the upper house were last week shown a video of the militants, led by a group known as Maute, plotting a far more sophisticated siege of Marawi City than the attack they launched there on May 23.`