US troops on ground in besieged Marawi city
US troops are on the ground helping local soldiers battle Islamist militants in a Philippine city, a Filipino military spokesman said yesterday, giving the most detailed account of their role.
The small number of US soldiers are providing vital surveillance assistance and, although they do not have a combat role, are allowed to open fire on the militants if attacked first, spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said.
"In a battle the most important item for the commander is to be able to determine what is happening," Padilla said as he confirmed that men in civilian clothes caught by a television camera flying drones from a pickup truck were US troops.
"It's called situational awareness and that is the sort of assistance being given."
The Philippine military has for over three weeks been engaged in fierce battles with hundreds of militants, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, in the southern city of Marawi on Mindanao island.
The fighting has left 202 gunmen dead, while 58 soldiers and 26 civilians have also been killed, according to the government.
The militants have withstood a relentless bombing campaign that has made parts of Marawi, the most important Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, resemble war-devastated cities in Iraq and Syria.
The Philippines and the United States are longtime allies and are bound by a mutual defence treaty.
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