'Big chance' Marawi crisis will end this month —AFP official

A military official on Monday said there is a possibility that the Marawi City crisis will finally end within the month.

"Malaki ang chance. We are hopeful, pero again wala kaming sini-set na deadline. We see that our troops are really pushing the Maute group to a smaller area," Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of Joint Task force Ranao, said.

GMA News' Sandra Aguinaldo said that according to Brawner, the remaining Maute group members in Marawi City are holed up in mosques with 40 to 60 hostages.

"They are now runing out of ammunition. They are running out of food, and this is manifested  by their response to our assault. Pailan-ilan na lang ang kanilang putok," Brawner addded.

The Mindanao State University opened classes on Tuesday while troops secured the campus.

Hours before the opening of classes, an intense fighting between troops and the Maute group members erupted in nearby Marantao town.

The Marawi crisis started on May 23 following an attack by the Maute group, which prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to place the entire Mindanao under martial law.

Brawner said troops still have to clear 400 houses and buildings within the conflict area in the city.

Latest data from the military showed that a total of 129 troops have been killed in the ongoing conflict.

The number of slain Maute group members, meanwhile, has increased to 583 while the civilian death toll was still at 45.

Brawner, meanwhile, said they have intensified checkpoints around the city to prevent reinforcements for the remaining Maute group members from getting in.

He said they received reports of the movement of armed men in the nearby towns of Lumbatan and Saguiaran. —ALG/KVD, GMA News