Residents of a southern Philippine city where Islamic State supporters waged a brutal five-month battle began returning home on Tuesday, but gunfire greeted them as soldiers scoured devastated neighbourhoods for remaining militants. Defence chiefs announced on Monday that the fighting, which claimed more than 1,100 lives and left the eastern half of Marawi in ruins, […]
Marawi
Mattis commends Philippine’s military for Marawi liberation
US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Monday praised the Philippines for its successes in battling Islamic State supporters, as he began an Asian trip aimed at reaffirming American support for regional allies. Mattis echoed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement last week that Filipino forces had “liberated” the southern city of Marawi, after five months of […]
Five-month battle with IS ends in Philippine’s Marawi : defence secretary
A five-month battle against Islamic State supporters in the southern Philippines that claimed more than 1,000 lives has ended, the nation’s defence secretary said on Monday. “We now announce the termination of all combat operations in Marawi,” Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Clark, a northern […]
Army says battle for Philippine city to end soon, 1,000 dead
Philippine troops Sunday bombed militants loyal to the Islamic State group who have held out for over four months in a southern city and the military said the conflict would be over “very soon”. The army previously set a target of Sunday to end the fighting in Marawi, which it said has killed more than […]