you're watching the news from berlin coming up next is the so-called islamic state using aiming to use the phillip things as its bridge head in asia stay tuned for documentary no forget you can follow all the news and information on our web site that's dot com thanks for watching. and i'm getting on with the brand new delusions are most postcodes personal devices and the topics that affect us all our flu shot climate change and the return of. only green fans check out. awesome.

if you. do search. you would look don't know one mother always burned a place it's a good. good. if i have the money of a job i won't join the isis. this was squashed by an ideology

that's foreign to us. extremists him coming into the country from other countries. i could see as the british really never did think. the supervision of all this is just eat i know it's meant of our liberation. the names could lie in the blink of an eye my children were gone and i will never see them again and that something terrible. and. what the president did in mar always a good lesson. they still need to get.

them warm. moos move. move move move move move move move move move. we're on mindanao the 2nd biggest island of the philippines. it's in the south of the country a little smaller than south korea and famous for its natural beauty. this

is also the site of one of the longest running conflicts in asia it's mainly a conflict between the christian majority and the muslim minority more than 100000 have been killed over the past decades. may 2017 saw a catastrophic development the self-proclaimed islamic state also known as i got involved in the conflict. with just a few 100 fighters it seems the mainly muslim town of mirali and held it for 5 months. the consequences were devastating. the philippine president rodrigo taft known for his brutal 0 tolerance approach proceeded to bomb the city. and.

we want to find out how it was possible. to gain a foothold in the philippines. we meet someone who witnessed the battle for murali the people they thought it's a joke how can you attack a city. and they cost tens of thousands of signals. it's unthinkable but it happened and the terrorism plays its part because it can explode it would break out any time the world would learn from them and not ordain look mon is a historian and a member of a powerful muslim family nonetheless he has to ask the army for permission to accompany us into the center of morality it's now an exclusion zone the city has

a population of 200000. is not allowed to enter his house. not all the booby traps and explosive devices in the area have been cleared away. tell us where we may go and how long we may. people here call the exclusion zone ground 0 of thousands have lost their homes.

this used to be the central mosque. he used to come here and stay here and pray for the dead. far more pick up their gunships. west's. bomb displaced. i was watching you the whole time with my 12 days of the drop me here. there was a time. i think my brother went to the. us going to stop the bombings but the army rejected it because they say. they can't handle the situation. definitely they were not able to handle the situation. i asked fighters had taken downtown morale week on may 23rd 2017 government forces

responded swiftly and harshly. in this type of warfare you have to flush out the enemy from their defensive position. if you look at the experience of. aleppo. all of this experienced bombings but in the case of. the hour when we did the bombings it was being pointed to specific targets already. the battle lasted 5 months more than a 1000 people were killed for the armed forces it was the toughest battle since the 2nd world war i as terrorists took hostages and murdered christians.

desperate terrified people sought shelter on no deano man's property both muslims and christians. i was not afraid i just want to make sure that everybody is safe i don't care about death of us waiting to die. i don't know i did not fear death because. you know i was schooled you know really just so. the situation. we never think about the. as an enemy. if it's god's will that you die you die if it's god's will that you really believe even if you are. right in the middle of mosul or. or in damascus where.

after 12 days of siege food and water were running out. look man whose nickname is norway decided to flee with those he had been sheltering . in front of the white building. a boy was blocking my path. i was right in that basket ball. and then when i got near. he recognized me and said go away. and i said what are you doing here i'm going to put his phone there what are you doing you. can find them and he's even so proud of it and then after that he said this is no way let's let them pass at the pass so. when i passed by here i saw some snipers there in that building. bullets and their guns. were looking at me as that. but this they start firing and i

felt so happy i mean you cannot explain the experience that in any other situation but. i i felt that elation i think that it's almost divine. i'm still alive and people are alive nobody got hurt that's ok thank god. look man became the hero of harare he led more than $150.00 civilians to safety. in parts of the city that were not destroyed life looks like it is back to normal martial law is still in force throughout mindanao. here stopped repeatedly at military checkpoints.

wanted posters for suspected terrorists are everywhere. who are they. and what do they want. we meet abdul he was recruited at the age of 17 he didn't have a job i asked offered him money and a gun he says he trained in the jungle alongside local and foreign fighters. yes i mean lots of millions but not enough and the country taught us what the qur'an says. is an eye for an eye. and we have the right to take revenge but i know i don't play games and i've been in that's. the highest commanders launched the attack earlier than planned abdul wasn't in morocco at the time. and i mean not

just in the last a long. look but. when we heard that they have started fighting those of us outside my rafi mask and we discussed how to get to the center. i mean well apostle. now that i mean among we tried 7 times we even used motor boats to try to get in from the lake but it didn't work. out well but. i do past information about the movement of government troops to his eye as comrades inside the besieged city by cell phone he tells us that 40 of his friends were killed none the less he could imagine joining battle again. so stop calling him when i mean it must not have an advantage because we young

people just blend in with the population. the military conti's really identify which of us are fighters who know how to use a gun in the army not abandon a fight there or not only coming home our number of body. because it was i wouldn't fight in iraq and or in any other muslim area and the same thing would happen again . only muslim people with. part of the battle took place somewhere else i would join somalia. have dual is out of a job again and he's disappointed about losing the battle and about the empty promises i said made. the leaders of the i.a.s. fighters in morale we were 2 brothers omar and abdullah mountain members of

a powerful clan they are revered as heroes by their young followers. but most muslims on mindanao have no sympathy for the ideology of the so-called islamic state other can share reef is a leading figure in the local muslim community he knew them out of brothers because of his long beard he has been dubbed bin laden as in osama bin laden. sharif likes the nickname even though he says he is opposed to violence and said that to the local i.a.s. fighters. visiting me in my house and yet again to me the joy in them sometimes told me please join us really make us our a myth. yes i mean we'll make you also our leader i tell you when you have

made you say but i've been letting you join us because we cannot trust anymore people have been governments because be out almost betraying us because so that's why they become. bad because. did not join the group led by the mountain brothers he told them he could not fight because he had heart disease. islamic state called on its sympathizers around the world to support the mount of brothers in the battle on mindanao. their ultimate dream is to establish islamic state that's why at the end it is impossible because even you win this water by the allied of the predicted go but i mean will not allow it to hop in if you see have been in iraq. doing the america the big big thing so what happened you know with the above that

you know you will loose. the sheriff's run several religious schools and morale way he says the kind of islam they teach is peaceful and has nothing in common with i.a.s. ideology. oh ok. he tells us that muslims here are concerned to maintain their own culture independence is not a priority. in fact he says many muslims in iraq we had actually voted for do territory. and yet it was the president himself he continues who provoked the attack on the city. look what our president did use did by the. ok you can bore down to one and more. authority

in may on opinion this is the the. but the goldberg the go betterment also has a point because it did not allow us to negotiate with the devil. we accompany show relief to midday prayers in the mosque. safe. muslims make up just 5 percent of the philippine population the majority are catholics almost all the muslims live on and are now all.

sure if says that many here feel marginalized and abused by the philippine government a feeling only confirmed by the bombing of murali. as a result of the conflict and the destruction tens of thousands fled the city. we visit one of the many camps set up for the displaced. fatima is a widow and used to run a small shop downtown she has 8 children since the battle erupted she hasn't seen 4 of them. again when i won a lot of my strength comes from allah only from allah he keeps me alone.

before i could hear my children's voices but not anymore. before in the middle of the night at 1 in the morning i could hear them crying asking for help but now i can't hear them anymore my children are too far away already i can no longer hear their voices. normal. the 4 who have gone missing 3 girls and a boy were all in qur'an school when the fighting began. fatima and the 4 children still with her are tormented by thoughts of what might have happened to the others were they seized by the i s fighters are they long dead . honest. i'm trying to hide my suffering from my other children. there are times when i pray

to god to ask him to take my life. but when i see my children. i still so young. i will go about that in every little my request and instead ask him to give me more years to live the look on when the young. one. who can. most of the children in the displaced persons camps don't go to school most of the families are poor. family an important person has come to visit some miracle talk she's running for the senate and if she wins she will be the 1st muslim senator in a quarter of

a century she's critical of the way to turn take conducted the campaign to retake. the liberation of all this is just. kind of announcement of our liberation but the real liberation is not living in this kind of the liaison this is not the way we were does not the kind of life we want this is not the kind of freedom that we want for children missing amongst 1000 people missing is not an achievement it is a moral disaster it's in funny it is infamy for us. that can never be repaired. nobody knows how many civilians were killed during the siege. so mere a good talk takes a. to a mass grave outside of town it's not known who is buried here. none of the victims

were ever identified. is an example of discrimination on of not allowing traditional indigenous mediation systems if we keep on making peacekeeping as a decision of only men in uniform and a national without local civilian population on it will always be a lock and failed experiment it's a failed decision my ra is a failed decision on it cannot be any more used as a template for any other. the following day we have an appointment with the largest muslim rebel group on mindanao the moral islamic liberation front for m i l f we are told to follow the

black pickup in front into territory controlled by the group. for decades the rebels fought for independence from the central government in manila many thousands were killed in the fighting. wait wait wait wait wait. what sense i asked burst into the same the former archenemies the front and the government had become strategic allies. and. we need a rebel leader who played a key role in dialogue with the government under successive presidents. god's only jaafari tells us of his determination to establish an autonomy homeland for his

people found some moral. negotiations lead to a deal codified in the bungs a more organic law the basis for the new bangs and morrow autonomous region in muslim mindanao with its own parliament government budget and islamic legal system . what is the reason why it's not always seems to happen if this me course of this injustice this young people are never fed up that's why i and then here come the group which is more militant. stay him of course when all. they isis. they isis. trying to find out who can be. there to be our ally outside of their middle east. and.

they believe. mindanao or a place. can't be their ally. because. they're muslims are not satisfied. but example are there so much corruption. and overall. and miss marr administration. noticed in the development. we are allowed to visit the headquarters of the military wing of the liberation front.

for us he's. the chief of staff isn't in uniform a sign perhaps of the shift from armed struggle to political action and responsibility. we ask what might happen if the project of autonomy doesn't go well . then maybe they must have some people are they saudi leads us by our creativity did a lot of people really become diminished. that the isis was by his station the whole means all the followers of the whole joe in for their goal and that got him there and become a bigger. liberation front has a lot of support among the muslim brotherhood for many believe their ancestors were victims of a historical injustice committed by christians the spanish an american colonists

and the philippine government in manila. the prospect of autonomy and peace has given the people here new hope. the m i l f says it will disarm up to $30000.00 fighters once autonomy for the muslim majority region is implemented. what they have not been based that the square the demand we will not. the commission our forces and we will not also give up our fight arms which we promised that a government. thanks. for . the rebels take us on patrol. out in the marshes here there are still fighters loyal to i.a.s. lying low. and. we have the impression the m.i.l.f.

men want to show that they are still in charge as if to say without us there can be no peace on mindanao. the movement's leaders evidently think highly of president hu territory for advancing peace but also because he too is from mindanao and has muslims in his family. he said he misses even hosting the peace process that's why i really thought i was president the deputy because obi hisper always met his actual. attributed the words had been dismissed that's what i really thought i suppose that instead. we ask ourselves who does the land really belong to to the muslims whose ancestors settled on mindanao in the 13th century or to the christians who came much later

but now account for the majority of the island's population. we visit the village of mother 100 families live here they're all catholic. us this is. the only dust looks after the small chapel the villages within the new bonds and moro autonomous region. facilitate simply and. my worry is that we just don't know.

if we go to the town hall for example we don't know what will happen to us when the muslims are in poland and what they. you can do to us. even i mean money. i mean what someone said in that book i know that's why i'm scared when our date is in town and not christians. or. me and madge local guy did that mean i'm a good and i'm not that was mother of course i'm afraid that my robbery will happen again i saw what happened in mirali the city was destroyed and our livelihood would also be destroyed if this were to happen somewhere here in our area daily income because all i want to in our. life here. we don't want to be evacuated and

we don't want to live without direction and they don't want the muscle in the mine back with the man. woman who in which one who would carry. the villagers are descendants of christian settlers from the north most of whom came here while the philippines was under u.s. control which only ended in 1906. many here don't trust muslims. see no evidence that when muslims come to our village there's no problem but when we get to where they are they want to cut off our heads i mean. down the road you know melissa long as that's why we don't want them to rule in our community. but that's the attitude of muslims is very different from our christian attitude. on money it's terrifying. what will happen to our children when we have to live under muslim rule. muslims and christians are different than

what i was a christian simply had. once the muslims rule they will make us their slaves and. harvest well but allan tell me you want the local i'm going to look i'm. out. after church on sunday in a nearby village it's time for some cock fighting. it's a bloody spectacle and a favorite pastime for many in the philippines mainly among christians.

and. muslim religious leaders and the moral islamic liberation front disapprove not of the cruelty but because it involves gambling.

we reached the biggest city in mindanao. president to territory was mayor here for more than 20 years. this is where he began his notorious war on drugs seemingly deploying the police as extra judicial hitman. estimates of the number of people killed ranged between 502-0000.

the next morning we meet an old friend and confidant of the president today so he invited us to see his fish farm. so this is where i can lay money beyond what they are being told that they're more here than we think they'd go for that. after that. he's a busy politician so he soon heads back to the city. we arranged to meet him again later.

is a mainly catholic city and it's striking how prosperous it appears to be compared to muslim communities on mindanao it is also considered the safest and cleanest city in the country. many say that's thanks to rob riggle 2 territories tenure as mayor. hayes used to raise some agrees we meet him again at his waterfront resort he sends to tell is a man of action not words watch only what the das the option that it takes that is how you measuring him don't measure him by what comes out from his small doing the president. when he was mayor here for more than 20 years in the city that was his way of doing things and he had to do it hands on you know i he's my friend. during night time during times when there are high incidence of holdups taxi drivers

he would drive a taxi himself how about guns ready and drive and go to places where hold ups are usefully happening he wants also to be held up because he can personally counter them in his own way. drugs corruption violent extremists if you handle them with kids gloves and all that maybe you will just prolong the agony. for you but i'll try to research does p.r. for detail taban ever he can. for many years he was presidential peace advisor he explains the peace plan from mindanao to a group of visitors many of whom are fans of the president. less easily.

we have. to raise a says it's a very western point of view to accuse the territory of abusing human rights and argues that to tertius so popular because he both pursues reconciliation and in bodies toughness as he demonstrated with respect to murali. it is a stroll signal to the bad guys that don't bear around with this country i have been in the peace process under several presidents and we have not moved as far as we have this time the president feels that we can improve as a nation if we try to give more authority and power for the locals. as. we head back to murali to meet nordine look man again. he shows

us the small museum that his family sponsored. keith. the central exhibit is a painting depicting a battle between muslims and spanish colonizers who arrived in the 16th century and were the 1st christians to settle in mindanao. what happened in mari city is a continuation of the colonial war against our people. and that is what's happening now. and until now the circle animosity has the end result. and healthfully. we can resolve this peacefully without

going through a war. going to let the military said. look man says he's going to run for deputy governor political developments over the coming months will prove decisive. for a model. that. will little. he views the prospect of autonomy for muslims in the region as an opportunity to overcome old enmities but as a historian he's all too aware of a long history of conflict of many centuries for many to cage for many generations . most of the problems that are being solved in mindanao has to go to war. every don't like war and war but if it comes then so be it.

but. at the end of our trip we take part in a ceremony to mark the start of reconstruction in the wrong way well over a year after the brutal battle. what it was. a loving home to. the event had been postponed several times so that president deter take could attend. but in the end he doesn't show up. we leave mindanao with a feeling that regional autonomy will not amount to much unless the muslim minority see real improvements in their everyday lives and during poverty and discrimination would only keep the threat of islamist terror a life vest and render peace an empty promise her. first.

europe. what unites. what divides. the motherland travelers. what binds the continent to. answers and stories aplenty. spotlight on people.

to minutes on w. . seen form. and. language courses. video. anytime anywhere. w. me.

is a woman. booking travel now a mainstream type. such. place. blame. this is deja vu news live from berlin nato grappling with turkey's invasion of northern syria the alliance is struggling to find a unified response to the incursion which nato member turkey is conducting with russia nato's archrival also coming out. british police continue to question a man over the sky.