Even as the military continued to pound targets in Marawi City where remnants of the terrorist Maute Group were believed to be holding out, like Barangay Banggolo, two marines were reported to have been killed in the sporadic exchanges of fire.
Government forces were also able to advance toward Barangay Mapandi, where another band of terrorists were located.
But the fighting was not to be a walk in the park, as the bandits chose their cover very well. At reinforced concrete structures and in enclaves that were not conducive to easy for the military to approach.
Furthermore, military sources shared that the enemy was lithe and nimble, able to flit from one hiding spot to another by opening up escape hatches between structures and shift from one house to another.
Word had earlier spread that the Abu Sayyaf Group leader, Isnilon Hapilon, has slipped away from Marawi, but a military source told News5 that Hapilon is believed to be back in town, allegedly together with some 70 foreign fighters, armed with caliber .50 and other high-powered weapons to reinforce their fellow fighters.
It was also said that among the fighters were a son of Hapilon, named Abdullah, as well as
Abdullah Maute.
Meanwhile, the terrorist bands were believed to have been divvied up into gangs of four or five fighters each, with at least two operating caliber .50 guns and the rest carrying M16 assault rifles.
As this developed, word filtered in that another of the Maute leaders, Omar Khayyam Maute, has been killed, a development that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been checking out.
Around noon, also, on Friday, one of the non-combatant fatalities was a 15-year old teener who was hit apparently by sniper fire while praying inside a mosque.
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