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The death toll due to the military operation against the Maute Group in Marawi City has risen to 44, 31 of which were the attackers with some possibly foreigners.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman, said 18 more Maute Group member were killed during Thursday’s operation.

“We received certain information that among those 31 killed, 12 were named and it is possible that half of these are foreigners but we still have to validate these,” he said on Friday.

Padilla said the military has been “able to reach parts of the city which have been held by some of these terrorist elements the past few days.”

He said fatalities on the government side rose to 13, with 39 troops wounded.

“Yesterday, we lost six more, and seven wounded, bringing the total number, as of 12 midnight last night to 11 members of the Armed Forces killed and two members of the PNP, one of whom was an officer who was assigned in the area, and who was brutally killed by way of beheading,” he said.

Close to 21,000 persons in Marawi were displaced because of the fighting, now on its fourth day.

As of 8 am, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government's Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM-HEART) has recorded a total of 4,182 families or 20,914 individuals displaced because of the armed conflict in Marawi City.

Myrna Jo Henry, information officer at the ARMM HEART, said most evacuees went to Iligan City while others reached parts of Lanao del Norte, Cagayan de Oro and Cotabato City.

Padilla said five high-powered firearms were recovered, bringing the total number of recovered firearms to 11.

He said the military is trying to clear Marawi City of Maute terrorist group members as soon as possible.

“Up to this moment, operations are ongoing. There are still firefights between our forces and those of the terrorists in certain parts of the city but the objective of our Armed Forces is to clear the city at the soonest time possible,” Padilla said. Robina Asido/DMS