Marawi siege: Death toll hits 510 – Philippine military

The death toll in a protracted battle between Islamic State-allied militants and government troops in the southern Philippine city of Marawi has topped 500, the military said on Tuesday.
Ninety of the dead were soldiers and police officers, while 39 were civilians killed by the militants in Marawi City, 800 kilometres south of Manila, said Brig.-Gen. Restituto Padilla.
At least 381 of the dead were militants killed in the fighting which began on May 23 after government forces attempted to arrest a local leader of the Islamic State terrorist group, he added.
Defence Secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, denied a local media report that up to 2,000 civilians had been killed in the conflict, and urged the public to avoid sharing such “unverified reports” that could “cause undue alarm, panic and confusion.”
“Such information is not only detrimental to our ongoing operations. It also hurts our economy and our international image as a nation,” Lorenzana said in a statement.
He also allayed public fears of a prolonged period of martial law, which some legislators had proposed to be extended for another five years in the southern region of Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte had declared a 60-day martial law on May 24 in Mindanao to help boost the fight against the militants in Marawi City. The decree is set to expire in 10 days.
The defence secretary said martial law was “an extraordinary power of the president as commander-in-chief that must be resorted to only when warranted by our national security circumstances. “
“Our constitution has prescribed limitations precisely to prevent its being abused as it has implications to the country’s peace and order, economy, trade, tourism, and our people’s way of life,” he said. (NAN)