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| Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) |
MANILA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte spent two hours on Thursday with troops fighting to retake the rest of the southern Philippine Marawi City from the remaining 50 Islamist extremists.
It was Duterte's third visit to the city since war erupted on May 23. The three-month conflict has so far killed nearly 800 people, including 129 security personnel, 595 militants and 45 civilians.
Col. Romeo Brawner, the deputy commander of the military contingent in Marawi, said that the president arrived around 4:00 p.m. local time and spent nearly a couple of hours talking with the soldiers.
Brawner said Duterte stayed in the "main battle area" and congratulated the troops for the progress of the ongoing offensive against the militants allied with ISIS.
Read the full story at Xinhua