THE fierce clashes in Marawi City entered the fourth day yesterday, with at least 44 government troops and terrorists killed.
The military said 31 terrorists and 13 soldiers and police officers were killed so far.
Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, 1st Infantry Division spokesperson, said two battalions of soldiers from the 103rd Infantry Brigade, backed by armored personnel carriers and Air Force assets, continue the clearing operations against the Maute group.
“We are gaining headway,” Herrera said in a radio interview aired in Maguindanao. “We will continue to pursue the high-value targets until Marawi is cleared of terrorists.”
Two combat helicopters took turns in pounding Maute positions in what Herrera described as “careful surgical operations.”
Over 150 civilians trapped in houses and buildings “have been safely rescued and are now in safe hands,” Herrera said.
Senior Supt. Oscar Nantes, Lanao del Sur police director, said many villages previously occupied by the terrorists have been recovered by government troops.
The Westmincom said six high-powered firearms, including a cal. 30 machine gun, have been taken by the military.
Herrera said there were about “30 or 40 terrorists who continue to fight the government forces.”
Chief Supt. Reuben Sindac, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said police officers from the Regional Public Safety Battalion were deployed to towns outside Marawi City to prevent fleeing terrorists from sowing terror in surrounding municipalities.
More police and military checkpoints have been set up along the Narciso Ramos Highway linking Marawi and Cotabato cities.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), hailed the government troops who died in the Marawi atrocities.
“They made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that the city (Marawi) will be cleared from terror threat and immediately restore normalcy in that part of Mindanao,” Galvez said.
“We once more call on the people in the community to join us fight terrorism. Provide your security forces with information that will contribute to the neutralization of these agents of deaths and destruction,” Galvez said.
“We will exhaust all efforts to crush the remaining Maute members so that the people of Marawi City can go back to their homes the soonest (possible time),” he said. (pna)
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