By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent .
The hunt against black flag-affiliated armed groups has resulted to the forced evacuation of thousands of residents in Mindanao.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 50,000 residents in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur were displaced after military operations intensifies against armed groups sympathetic to the Daesh last week.
The bulk of internally displaced persons, numbering 39,000 people, came from Maguindanao where Philippine soldiers are fighting the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters since February.
“The IDPs left their homes in their haste to escape the fighting,” Meher Khatcherian, who heads the ICRC in Lanao del Sur, said.
Khatcherian said more than 1,800 families or 9,000 people were displaced in Lanao del Sur last week as the military hunted the remnants of the Maute group that have seized Marawi city in 2017.
He said the affected families from Tubaran and Pagayawan towns in Lanao del Sur have fled to the nearby town of Marugong.
“Living conditions are difficult for thse in evacuation centers due to limited access to water and sanitary facilities,” Khatcherian said.
Khatcherian said food supply is running short after the local calamity funds of the local governments have dried up.
He said the ICRC has rush in additional food packs to the evacuees as well as medical supplies and constructing toilet facilities.
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