Death of 9 wounded soldiers hike Marawi toll to 145

MARAWI CITY — Nine critically wounded soldiers have died while undergoing treatment in two medical facilities since last week, increasing the government death toll to 145, the military said on Wednesday.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Joint Task Force Marawi, said the soldiers were among those wounded in the recent fighting and were airlifted to Armed Forces General Hospital in Quezon City and Cagayan de Oro City.

The fighting in the lakeside city has entered its fourth month, although its intensity has declined, according to the military.

Military spokesmen said the crisis could soon be over as the Maute group and its allies were now fighting within an area of a few hundred square meters.

“We are gaining ground as we continue to flush out members of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf,” Petinglay said.

The military ground assault and air strikes have killed 641 enemies since May 23, when the crisis started, she said.

Among those reportedly killed was Abdullah Maute, one of the two brothers that headed the Maute group.

Petinglay said there was no indication yet that Abdullah’s cadaver had been taken out of the main battle area.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, who heads the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said they intercepted conversations between local and foreign terrorists on the social media platform Telegram indicating that Abdullah had been killed.

He said the Maute leader might have died between Aug. 14 and 26.

This was not the first time that the military reported that a Maute leader had been killed. In June, it said that it received a  report that Abdullah’s brother Omar had also been killed.

Omar was later seen alive, but injured, by several witnesses, including escaped hostages, in the main battle area. —Jeoffrey Maitem