AFP recovered 22 dead bodies of Maute

                     The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Wednesday said it has recovered the bodies of 22 dead terrorists following an all out assault in one of the buildings occupied by the Daesh-inspired Maute Group at the Main Battle Area (MBA) inside Maraw City.

                  AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief Marine Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said that government troopers recovered the remains at the MBA on Tuesday and they were that of terrorists.

                “Our operating units have first verified that the terrorists are the only ones in the building before they launched the assault,” Arevalo said. “There were eight firearms seized, two of which are RPGs or rocket-propelled grenades and dozens more IEDs (improvise explosive devices).”

                  Government troops are hoping to recover more firearms from the building and the annexes after the still ongoing clearing operations were completed.
At the same time Arevalo said the casualty count on the side of the enemy continue to rise following the death of the 22 terrorists.

                   As of Oct. 11 or Day 142 of the Marawi conflict, the total number of Maute terrorists killed has already reached 802 while a total of 827 firerams have been recovered.
Arevalo also said the nunber of government forces killed in the Marawi crisis also increased to 160 following the death of an Army junior officer.

                  The junior officer initially identified as First Lt. Harold Mark, died after being hit by a sniper fireon Monday.

                  The victim, who is reportedly a native of Isabela province, wss advancing towards the defensive positions of the enemy together with other troops when he was hit by a bullet.

                 The victim was scheduled to marry his fiance following his deployment in Marawi.