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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, June 11, 2017
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MANILA – Thirteen members of the Philippine Marines were killed in a 16-hour firefight between government troops and the Maute group on Friday in Marawi City, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said.
Major General Emmanuel Salamat, Marines commandant, confirmed the number of casualties in a televised interview on Saturday.
They included 1st Lieutenant Frederick Sabillano, who led the raid of a Maute lair where P79 million in cash and checks were found.
Around 40 other marines were injured.
The deaths were considered the biggest single-day loss for government forces in the siege that has been ongoing for nearly a month.
Marine Battalion Landing Teams 7 and 5 encountered an undetermined number of Maute group members in Barangay Lilod Madaya. The fight lasted from 3:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., said Salamat.
The Maute members were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices and snipers, Salamat said.
A “temporary setback” was how Colonel Edgard Arevalo, AFP public affairs chief, called the latest Marines casualties and injuries. He said it “has not diminished our resolve a bit.”
“It instead primed up our determination to continue our prudent advances to neutralize the enemy, save the innocent lives trapped in the fight, and set the conditions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi,” Arevalo said.
The marines were conducting a house-to-house search for militants allied with the Islamic State group who were still occupying parts of Marawi when the battle erupted, said Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
About 30 to 40 militants used civilians as human shields, making it hard for the troops to operate, and also positioned themselves in the city’s many mosques, Herrera said.
Earlier the government said the unrest left 20 civilians, 134 militants and 39 government troops dead.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Marawi, parts of which were reduced to rubble by fighting and government airstrikes in an attempt to dislodge the rebels.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, including the besieged city in Lanao del Sur province, on May 23 after a clash between state forces and Maute fighters that followed a botched military operation against terrorist Isnilon Hapilon. (With a report from The Associated Press/PN)
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