A FIVE-MONTH battle against Islamic State supporters in the southern Philippines that claimed more than 1,000 lives has ended, the nation’s defense secretary said on Monday.

“We now announce the termination of all combat operations in Marawi,” Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana told reporters on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Clark, a northern Philippine city.

Mr. Lorenzana said there were no more militants, known locally as coming from the Maute group, providing resistance following an intense final battle after which 42 bodies were recovered.

“Those are the last group of stragglers of Mautes and they were caught in one building and so there was a firefight so they were finished,” he said

“All terrorists, fighting troops. All hostages have been recovered.”

Mr. Lorenzana’s announcement comes exactly five months after the southern, predominantly Islamic city went under siege, prompting President Rodrigo R. Duterte to place the entire Mindanao under martial law.

Hundreds of gunmen who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) rampaged through Marawi, then took over parts of the city using civilians as human shields.

Mr. Duterte and security analysts said the militants were trying to establish a Southeast Asian caliphate in Marawi.

The ensuing US-backed military campaign to evict the militants claimed more than 1,000 lives, displaced 400,000 residents and left large parts of Marawi in ruins.

Mr. Duterte traveled to Marawi on Tuesday last week and declared the city had been “liberated” — the second such declaration by the government since Independence Day of June 12 — a day after the Southeast Asian leader for IS, Isnilon Hapilon, and another militant leader, Omarkhayam Maute, were reported killed.

Another leader, Omarkhayam’s brother Abdullah, was killed last September, the military had also reported

Hapilon’s would-be successor, Mahmud Ahmad, has since been reportedly killed as well. However the fighting continued in the days after, raising questions over whether the city was indeed free of the militants.

Mr. Lorenzana’s US counterpart, Defense Secretary James Mattis, on Monday praised the Philippines for its success in Marawi.

“One of the first things I’m going to do when I get there is commend the Philippine military for liberating Marawi from the terrorists,” Mr. Mattis told reporters on board a flight to the Philippines to attend a meeting by Southeast Asia’s defense ministers at the former American military base of Clark in Pampanga province.

“It was a very tough fight as you know in southern Mindanao (the local region). And I think the Philippine military sends a very strong message to the terrorists.”

Hapilon and the Mautes, along with hundreds of other militants, had been able to defy near daily bombing raids that left much of the city in ruins by sheltering in basements and traveling through tunnels, according to the military.

The impoverished southern Philippines, home to many among the nation’s Muslim minority, has for decades endured conflict.

The nation’s biggest Muslim rebel group is in talks with the government to end a rebellion that began in the 1970s and has claimed more than 120,00 lives.

But more extreme groups have emerged with no interest in forging peace.

Some of those, including those led by Hapilon and the Mautes, had in recent years declared allegiance to IS.

“We hope that this operational achievement in Marawi in the Philippines will be the catalyst that shall bring to the fore future cooperation and partnerships, not only against terrorism, but also those that shall defeat other regional and global security threats,” Mr. Lorenzana said.

“The damage to Marawi’s infrastructure and private properties and the displacement of thousands of residents require the government’s unified and comprehensive effort,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella said for his part.

In his press briefing on Monday, Assistant Secretary Kristoffer James Purisima of the Office of Civil Defense said Marawi’s rebuilding will start “next year, dahil this year siyempre may clearing tayo, ang focus natin ’yung transitional shelters at tapusin ’yung PCNA [Post-Conflict Needs Assessment] at ’yung CRRP [Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan]…. (Well, next year because this year we have clearing (operations), and our focus is the transitional shelters and the PCNA and the CRRP).”

Mr. Purisima said part of the P5-billion fund allotted for this year will be for relief efforts given to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and for building the transitional shelters in Sagonsongan village, Marawi City.

“Well, in terms of until when, hangga’t kailangan nila magbibigay tayo diyan. Siyempre it will shift one way or another kapag meron ng mga IDPs na nailipat na sa transitory shelter sites. So baka ibang form of relief na ’yung ibibigay natin sa kanila (Well, in terms of until when, as long as the IDPs need it, we still be providing relief. Of course, it will shift one way or another if some of the IDPs are transferred to the transitory shelter sites. So we may provide other forms of relief [by then]),” he said when asked until when the government will be providing relief to IDPs.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) is targeting to build 1,100 transitional shelters within the year, Mr. Purisima said, adding that once a single transitional shelter is completed , IDPs can be transferred immediately.

Mr. Purisima said some foreign countries have donated funds, including Thailand, India, and China. However, he did not disclose the amounts each country donated. — AFP, with Rosemarie A. Zamora

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR