PHILIPPINE TROOPS POUND MILITANTS AS DEATH TOLL PASSES 300

MARAWI: Philippine troops pounded militants holding parts of southern Marawi city with air strikes and artillery on Saturday as more soldiers were deployed and the death toll rose to more than 300 after nearly a month of fighting.

Fires erupted and dark plumes of smoke rose from enclaves still occupied by the militants as the air force staged bombing runs to support ground troops struggling to dislodge the fighters from entrenched positions, journalists at the scene said.

MG520 attack helicopters and FA50 fighter jets were used in the raids, while sustained bursts of automatic gunfire could be heard in the distance, indicating the intensity of the fighting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, appearing in public for the first time in nearly a week, said the presence of foreign fighters from the IS group among the militants in Marawi has made the fighting more difficult.

“You have a conglomeration there of ISIS fighters from Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lankan and Arabs,” he told soldiers during a visit to a military camp in Butuan city, northeast of Marawi, in the southern region of Mindanao.

Also on Saturday, 400 fresh troops were airlifted to Marawi from the central Philippines, ANC television said quoting military officials.

Television footage showed the soldiers bidding goodbye to their families before being flown to the conflict zone.

The overall death toll rose to 329 with 310 — 225 militants, 59 soldiers and 26 civilians — killed in the conflict, according to government figures.

The 19 others deaths came from those displaced by the fighting, said Mujiv Hataman, the governor of an autonomous region in the south.