MANILA/BUTIG, Lanao del Sur (UPDATE) - Nineteen members of the Maute group have been killed in the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) offensive in Butig, Lanao del Sur, a military official said Monday.

AFP spokesperson Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said another offensive action was launched before dawn today.

Padilla said the death toll from the side of the bandit group is expected to rise as the military ramps up its operation. He, however, refused to give details on today’s operations, except that government troops have been pushing their way into the group’s lair.

"Yung 19 ay maaring madagdagan pa sa katapusan ng mga gagawing operasyon ngayong araw," Padilla said.

Padilla said the number of government soldiers wounded has risen to 13.

Padilla admitted that identifying members of the Maute group is a hard task, which is why the military is urging civilians to help them in determining members of the lawless group.

“Because we operate in normal times, and if you have not identified a particular criminal by face or name, you cannot go just arrest anyone because the right of habeas corpus is there,” Padilla said, referring to the constitutional guarantee against warrantless arrest.

“Because of that, we have to defer to the police. Other than that, these people, if you have not identified them if they mingle with the civilians, it would be hard to arrest.”

Padilla, however, clarified he was not suggesting that the writ of habeas corpus be suspended.

“Ang pag-cancel ng karapatan na iyan ay nasa political leadership natin,” he said. (Canceling that privilege is up to our political leaders.)

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that he may be forced to suspend the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness in Mindanao persists.

• READ: Duterte: I may be forced to suspend writ of habeas corpus

TROOPS FIRE ARTILLERY, TOWN DESERTED

On Sunday, troops fired artillery at positions held by an Islamic militant faction in southern Philippines as more soldiers deployed against the group, which staged a deadly bombing in Davao City, Duterte's home city.

Troops used 105 mm artillery to blast the positions of the Maute group in the nearly deserted town in the second day of fighting since the gunmen -- who claim allegiance to the Islamic State group -- occupied Butig's abandoned town hall.

Mortar bombs could be heard in the distance as an MG-520 helicopter gunship flew overhead, a reporter in the town said.

Most of the 17,000 residents of the largely Muslim town on Mindanao island fled to evacuation centers in neighboring towns or to relatives elsewhere after the Maute incursion on Saturday, said Mayor Dimnatang Pansar.

"We can't fight the Maute with only 20 policemen," he said, appealing for more soldiers to be assigned there.

Only a few residents stayed in their homes as armored vehicles and military snipers fanned out through the town streets, slowly advancing on the Maute group's position.

Reporters in Butig said the military had obtained photographs showing the Maute group flying the black IS flag over the old town hall.

However, they themselves were not allowed to get close enough to verify this.

LOOK: Black ISIS flag at Butig Town Hall; high school, madrasa, some houses held by Maute Group as defense vs AFP forces | @chiarazambrano pic.twitter.com/WSE3C0mkdE

— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) November 26, 2016

Another military spokesman, Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said this symbolic action was expected.

"They have long been professing allegiance to the foreign terror group. This is still part of the Maute group's agenda in courting support and encouraging similar-minded individuals to support ISIS," he said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.

The Maute group is one of several armed Islamist organizations in Mindanao which have pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq and Syria.

In past clashes with troops, its members were seen carrying black IS flags and bandannas bearing the jihadists' insignia were found in their base, the military said.

Three members of the Maute group were arrested last month, accused of the September bombing that left 15 people dead in Davao, Duterte's home town and Mindanao's largest city.

Government forces captured a Maute training camp in the town in June after a 10-day gunbattle that left four soldiers and dozens of militants dead, according to an army account.

The Maute group, once described by the military as a small-time extortion gang, attacked a remote army outpost in Butig in February, triggering a week of fighting that the military said left six soldiers and 12 militants dead.

The group also beheaded two employees of a local sawmill in April, the military has said. – with Agence France-Presse