Tracer ammunition light up the Marawi sky at nightfall as government forces continue to attack Maute terrorists entrenched in the city on Friday.

Areas of the city on fire are also prominently seen on night-vision cameras.

The militants holed up in Marawi have been reduced to a "small resistance" after troops crippled their logistics and some fighters have fled from the battle, military officials earlier said.

"In a few more days it could be over," Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Eduaro Año told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Officials have said that, among the several hundred militants who seized the town on May 23, there were about 40 foreigners from Indonesia and Malaysia but also fighters from India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Chechnya.

Major General Carlito Galvez, head of military command in the region, said government troops had entered three neighborhoods from which the militants had pulled back after two weeks of defense that relied heavily on snipers.

"We saw food, IEDs, mobility assets. Considering we have paralyzed logistics capability, we are looking at the possibility that the end will be near," he told a news conference in Marawi, referring to improvised explosive devices, or bombs.

With their ability to fight "degraded", some of the militants have fled, military spokesman Restituto Padilla said in a radio interview, adding that nine had surrendered and were providing "good intelligence".

Galvez said the military believed that "more or less 100" civilians were still being held hostage by the militants. Earlier this week, officials put at several hundred the number of people being held as human shields or trapped in their homes.

Catholic priest Father Teresito "Chito" Soganub and about a dozen of his parishioners were abducted on the first day of the siege when militants burst into the town's cathedral and then set it on fire.

Task force head Brigadier General Rolly Bautista told reporters that, according to information passed back through emissaries, the priest was still alive. - with a report from Reuters