 |
| Photo by Oliver Marquez of PNA |
Government security forces have overran another strong lair of the Maute group in Marawi City on July 3.
Col Cirilo Thomas Donato, assistant division commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Philippine Army, disclosed in a press briefing at the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) in Iligan City, that government troops have reclaimed Dansalan College which hosted high rise structures that served as machine gun nests and snipers vantage position of the Maute group.
The troops also recovered .50 caliber machine gun and 14 other high powered firearms.
This brings to 410 total number of firearms recovered by the troops in the clearing operations to neutralize terrorists and criminal elements in the conflict area, he said.
Col Donato further revealed that a cadaver of foreign looking individual believed to be one of the reported foreign fighters from Singapore was also recovered.
He said that 11 suspected foreign fighters have been reportedly killed as of this time.
As the government continues to gain ground against the Maute group, the Management of the Dead and Missing (MDM) cluster of the NEOC has stepped-up efforts for retrieval of dead bodies and human remains, disaster victim identification, and management of the missing and the bereaved families.
Accordingly, teams have been organized and on standby for the retrieval operations while coordination on the identification of temporary burial sites and temporary morgue areas are also on-going.
Welfare desks manned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) were also established in seven evacuation centers to assist displaced individuals looking for their missing relatives. (APB/PIA-10)
No comments