4-month-old Marawi siege toll tops 1,000

MANILA: Two Philippine soldiers and 13 IS-allied militants were killed in clashes in a besieged southern city amid efforts to end a four-month conflict that has left more than 1,000 dead, a military official said on Saturday.

The firefights erupted on Friday as troops attempted to takeover the remaining strongholds of the militants in Marawi City, 800 km south of Manila, said Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of a joint military task force.

Authorities estimate that the militants were still holding captive about 40 hostages in a 10-hectare area in the centre of Marawi.

The conflict began on May 23 when troops attempted to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, tagged as the leader of the IS terrorist movement in the Philippines and South-East Asia.

Since then, 1,005 people have been killed in the hostilities, which also forced more than half a million people to flee their homes in Marawi City and surrounding town, officials said. Friday’s casualties brought to 155 the number of soldiers and police officers killed in the fighting. Troops have slain 749 suspected militants, while the terrorists have killed 45 civilians, the military said.

Fifty-six displaced civilians have died from various illnesses in evacuation centres, local officials said.

Only two key leaders of the siege — Hapilon and Omar Maute — are still alive and in Marawi, according to the military. The other leaders have been killed.