MANILA: Philippine military officials say government forces have killed eight suspected sympathizers of Daesh in the southern Philippines.

Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat says the militants were killed in a brief clash at dawn Thursday with Filipino marines in a hinterland off Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province. They were mostly Filipinos but one was possibly Indonesian.

Salamat says recovered documents show the slain militants belonged to Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines, a new militant group with about 50 fighters who pledged their allegiance to Daesh leader last year.

Security officials say some Filipino militants have pledged support to the Daesh leader but there is no evidence they have an active collaboration with the brutal group based in Syria and Iraq.

Blaze leaves thousands homeless

A huge fire that swept through a crowded Manila shanty town has razed more than 800 homes, leaving thousands homeless after they were forced to flee for their lives from the towering flames, officials said Thursday.

Residents joined forces with firefighters to battle Wednesday’s blaze which spread quickly among the narrow alleys, helping smash down the walls of makeshift houses to allow crews access to the flames.

People evacuated their homes carrying young children and whatever possessions they could salvage, with thousands forced to seek shelter in makeshift tents at a local park.

Despite the devastation, no one was killed in the disaster and only four people were injured as they clambered over their homes to escape, authorities said.

Desperate locals called out “over here, over here” to a military helicopter which was drafted in to dump water on the blaze, after fire engines could not reach the heart of the inferno in the sprawling shanty town.

“The alleys were too narrow and people were rushing out. Even worse, the wind was strong and fanned the flames,” said chief fire marshall Nahum Vitarosa.

He added that deaths were avoided because the fire broke out in the afternoon when residents were able to evacuate quickly.