The Philippines on Monday announced the end of five months of military operations in a southern city held by pro-Islamic State rebels, after a fierce and unfamiliar urban war that has marked the country’s biggest security crisis in years. Offensive combat operations were terminated after troops put a stop to the last stand of rebel gunmen who clung on inside several buildings in the heart of Marawi, and refused to surrender. The bodies of 40 fighters and two of their wives were found there and in two buildings close by. Ernesto Abella, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, said the Philippines had prevailed against “the most serious threat of violent extremism and radicalism in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia”. The centre of the picturesque lakeside town is now in ruins due to heavy shelling and aerial bombing.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 23, 2017 08:03 UTC