The number of civilians killed in Marawi has risen to 44. This increases the number of total casualties in the bloody conflict to 418, including 303 Maute militants, and 71 police and military casualties.
Military spokesman Jo-Ar Herrera announced the updated death toll after 17 bodies of civilians were retrieved on Thursday.
Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman of the Provincial Crisis Management Committee, can’t help but feel devastated after seeing lives and properties continuously destroyed.
“It’s beyond evil, all Maranaos couldn’t describe how they feel, it’s beyond evil. You feel helpless and angered,” said Adiong who is also a Maranao.
‘Leadership problems’
Herrera said Abdullah, one of the Maute brothers leading the siege in Marawi, is still running the show for the terrorist group. But he said the Maute group is showing signs of leadership problems.
“Nag-aaway sila sa pera sa (they’ve been fighting over) positions, in terms of decision-making. Eventually they will crumble,” Herrera said, adding that their offensives have yielded 362 recovered enemy firearms.
Herrera said that the number of enemies in Marawi is still around 100, and that they still hold sniper and machine-gun positions.
“Habang umaatras sila (While they’re retreating), they occupy another set of buildings, palapit nang palapit ang mga sundalo (the soldiers are inching closer),” he said.
The Armed Forces said the Maute group still has around 100 hostages. There are also 200-300 trapped civilians, making it difficult for the military to conduct offensives.
Re-published from ABS-CBN News
