Two Malaysian militants killed in Mindanao battle

PETALING JAYA: Two Malaysians were among several militants who were killed in a battle against the Philippine army in the Marawi City of Mindanao, on Thursday.
Abdurahman Asmawi from Kelantan and Dr Kamsa Yahya from Kedah, the two reported victims, were killed while fighting alongside Islamic State-linked Maute group who besieged Marawi - a southern city of some 200,000 people.
It is believed that four other Malaysians - including former Universiti Malaya lecturer Dr Mahmud Ahmad - are also in Mindanao, with two of them identified as part of the militant group.
Philippines solicitor-general Jose Calida said Malaysians and Indonesians were among foreign jihadists collaborating with domestic Islamist groups fighting the country's army, a rare admission that outsiders were collaborating with domestic Islamist groups.
It is believed that 11 soldiers and 31 militants have been killed since Tuesday.
It is also estimated that there are between 200 to 500 militants in Mindanao.
The battle began when Philippines military forces tried to flush out rebels of the Maute group off the island, deploying its special forces and attack helicopters.
This was following the army's raid aimed at capturing an Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who has been collaborating with the Maute group and is reportedly pushing for the creation of IS in the region.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has since imposed martial law on Muslim-majority Mindanao.
He had also recently warned that IS was determined to establish a presence in the southern Philippines.
Maute is a little-known group that was, among other things, blamed for a bombing in Duterte's home city of Davao in September last year, which killed 14 people and wounded dozens.