The Western Mindanao Command expresses confidence the military will be able to clear Marawi City before Sunday.

“I believe I am confident that we can get the 10 to 15 (days) deadline. The timeline that we give to the chief of staff (AFP) is Oct. 15 but I believe we can achieve that not later than October 15,” Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, AFP Western Mindanao Command chief, said in a press conference in Marawi City Monday.

Galvez said based on their updates only four to five hectares of Marawi City are being cleared by government forces.

“On our estimate (around) four to five hectares (left). Our previous report is (about) nine to 10 hectares,” he said.

Galvez said there are six to nine foreign terrorists monitored inside the battle area.

“We saw that there are nine, but there are three foreign terrorist that were hit by our airstrike but we are looking at the possibility of six up to nine,” Galvez said.

“The six to nine foreign terrorists are still alive. They are considered dangerous and very aggressive and very desperate,” he added.

Galvez said Omar Maute was wounded during the encounter in Bato Mosque last month.

“I believe Omar was wounded during the assault in Bato mosque, he was wounded considering that the assault of Bato Mosque there were more than 15 killed Maute in the area and we believe that Omar was the overall leader in Bato Mosque, that the report form the ground...,” he said.

Based on latest data, government fatalities have reached to 158 while a total of 744 terrorist were killed. Robina Asido/DMS