THE Marawi crisis will likely end this month as government troops are concluding their operations in the war-torn city, President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday.
“It looks like we’re just mopping up, and they’re just trying to find out where the leaders are,” Duterte told state-run PTV4.
Duterte said that while he thinks the fight in Marawi is “almost over,” there won’t be any victory celebration.
“I do not want any celebration of victory. We all lost in Marawi. Every Moro or every soldier who died breaks our heart. They’re all Filipinos,” he said in Filipino.
“So when it’s over, I don’t want anybody shouting, ‘Mabuhay! Mabuhay!’
Let us just pray to God, maybe thank the Lord that it’s over. We hope Allah will remember the people of Marawi,” he added.
The President said the government will focus on rebuilding the war-torn city.
As of Sept. 18, 673 terrorists and 149 soldiers were killed, while 47 civilians died in the fighting that began May 23.