CLARK: Australia will train Filipino soldiers in urban warfare to combat the spread of Islamic extremism after months of fierce fighting against militants in the southern Philippines, it was announced Tuesday. She said Canberra would immediately send teams composed of 80 troops to provide urban warfare counter-terrorism training at Philippine military bases. “While we need troops now to be trained on urban warfare, we also need to build our capacity to train our troops. Part of our program that we are going to do in the near future is to build our urban (warfare training) centers,” Lorenzana said. About 400,000 residents were displaced as near-daily air strikes and intense ground combat left large parts of the city in ruins.

Source: Manila Times October 24, 2017 10:07 UTC