ILIGAN, Philippines — U.S. special operations forces and spy planes are helping Filipino troops quell a nearly three-week siege by Muslim militants in a southern city where 13 Philippine marines were killed in the biggest single-day loss for government forces, officials said Saturday.

A U.S. Navy aircraft provided surveillance for the local troops as the battle raged in Marawi on Friday, confirming the involvement of the U.S. military in helping to end the urban insurrection at the request of the Philippine government, Philippine military officials said.

A U.S. Navy P-3 Orion plane flew above rocket-firing Philippine helicopters that struck militant positions, causing plumes of smoke to billow skyward, on Friday in Marawi.

“We don’t have adequate surveillance equipment, so we asked the U.S. military for assistance. It’s noncombat assistance,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said by phone, citing a Philippine government policy that bars foreign troops from local combat.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila said, without elaborating, that U.S. special operations forces were providing help to Filipino troops battling the Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants in Marawi.

Philippine marines were conducting a house-to-house search for militants allied with the Islamic State group who are still occupying parts of Marawi when the battle erupted Friday, said Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera, spokesman for the Philippine army’s 1st Infantry Division.

About 30 to 40 militants used civilians as human shields, making it hard for troops to operate, and also positioned themselves in the city’s many mosques.

Forty other marines were wounded, Herrera said.

London Bridge attacker tried to rent larger truck, police say

LONDON — British police have arrested two more suspects over the London Bridge attack, and revealed that the carnage could have been worse had the attackers succeeded in their goal of renting a larger truck, rather than a van, to mow down pedestrians.

London’s Metropolitan Police said Saturday that they arrested two men overnight in east London on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. Police have seven people in custody over suspected links to the three attackers who killed eight people on and around London Bridge on June 3. Police killed the attackers.

Police said Khuram Butt, believed to be the ringleader, originally tried to rent a 7.5-ton truck. The truck was similar to, albeit smaller than, the one used in the Nice attack last year that killed 86 people in France.

Paris prosecutor charges man in police attack at Notre Dame

PARIS — The hammer-wielding man who attacked police officers patrolling in front of Notre Dame Cathedral appears to have radicalized himself through the internet and was unknown to French police and intelligence services, the chief prosecutor in Paris said Saturday.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the 40-year-old Algerian doctoral student was given preliminary charges Saturday of attempted murder of a police officer in connection with a terrorist enterprise and crime of terrorist conspiracy.

One police officer was slightly injured in Tuesday’s attack.

The assailant was identified as Farid Ikken by a nephew in Algeria, lawyer Sofiane Ikken, and a friend, Algerian journalist Kamal Ouhnia.

Activists say airstrike kills 7 in ISIS de facto capital of Raqqa

BEIRUT — Syrian activists say an airstrike in the contested de facto capital of the Islamic State group has killed at least seven civilians.

The activist collective Raqqa24 says seven people were killed Saturday when coalition aircraft bombed a street in Raqqa, in northern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 13 civilians have been killed in coalition air raids over the past 24 hours. There was no immediate comment from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The U.S. is providing battlefield support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces trying to capture Raqqa from the Islamic State group.

Since launching the battle a week ago, the SDF has penetrated two neighborhoods in the city.

Election issues pose headache for Kosovo winners

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovars vote Sunday to choose the new 120-seat Parliament that will face some seemingly intractable problems.

There is the issue of the border demarcation deal with Montenegro that brought down the previous government; the continuation of talks with Serbia, which denies Kosovo’s existence as a state; and potential war crimes trials of some senior political leaders.

Nineteen political parties, five coalitions and two citizens’ initiatives, all promising to break the isolation and secure growth, have nominated candidates. The demarcation deal was signed in 2015.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The new state has been recognized by 114 countries, including the United States and most of the EU members, but not by Belgrade.

7 migrants dead and 1,650 saved at sea, groups say

BARCELONA, Spain — Seven migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday during separate rescue operations that saved 1,650 others who were attempting the dangerous crossing to Europe, according to a Spanish aid group and the Italian coast guard.

Seven bodies were found in dinghies launched by migrant smugglers. The coast guard coordinated the rescues Saturday from nine rubber dinghies and three small boats, with the aid of coast guard vessels and aircraft, an NGO boat and a European patrol mission.

Libya-based smugglers have been sending unseaworthy boats from the north African nation toward Italy. Several hundred thousand asylum-seekers and economic migrants have been rescued at sea over the last few years.

Severed head: A man’s head was found early Saturday on the front steps of a Mississippi home and police are working to identify him. Jackson police Cmdr. Tyree Jones said the body has not been located. Authorities do not have a motive in the killing, and Jones refused to speculate if the killing was gang-related.

Boeing deal: Tehran-based Aseman Airlines finalized a deal to buy 60 planes from Boeing, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported Saturday. It The first deliveries in 2019 will consist of 30 737 passenger planes in 2019. In December, Iran Air finalized a $16.6 billion deal to buy 80 planes.