Fighting escalates as Philippines pounds militants in south

Nearly 2,000 civilians have been trapped in a city in southern Philippines as the government goes after militants of the Takfiri group Maute.

Authorities said Sunday that the death toll from almost a week of fighting on parts of Marawi on Mindanao Island neared 100, adding that gunmen were to blame for the mounting deaths as they committed atrocities including murdering women and a child.

Airstrikes on suspected positions of militants have increased amid a martial law declared in southern part of the Philippines since Tuesday.

Zia Alonto Adiong, the spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, said Sunday that most of Marawi’s 200,000 residents had fled but 2,000 remained trapped in areas controlled by the militants.

"They want to leave. They are afraid for their safety. Some are running out of food to eat. They fear they will be hit by bullets, by airstrikes," Adiong said, adding, "They have been sending us text messages, calling our hotline, requesting us to send rescue teams but we cannot simply go to areas which are inaccessible to us.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared that the martial law is necessary to quell what he describes as a fast-growing threat from terrorists linked to Daesh, a Takfiri terror group based in the Middle East to whom Maute and Abu Sayyaf, another notorious militant group in southern Philippines, have pledged allegiance.

The intensified campaign in Marawi, one of the biggest Muslim cities in the mainly Catholic Philippines, came right at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to refrain from eating and drinking. That creates a dire situation for those trapped as well as others who fled the city to insecure places.

Military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said the government had no option but to pound militants in Marawi.

"Their refusal to surrender is holding the city captive. Hence, it is now increasingly becoming necessary to use more surgical airstrikes to clear the city and to bring this rebellion to a quicker end,” Padilla said, adding "In as much as we would like to avoid collateral damage, these rebels are forcing the hand of government by hiding and holding out inside private homes, government buildings and other facilities.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera, a regional military spokesman, also elaborated on the latest toll from civilians, saying at least 19 civilians, including three women and a child were found dead near a university. Journalists and witnesses on the ground said eight bodies were dumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Marawi on Sunday. It was not clear whether they were also included in the toll released by the army.

“These are civilians, women. These terrorists are anti-people,” Herrera said.

Authorities said the operation has left 61 militants dead, adding that 15 soldiers and two policemen had also died in the fighting.

The fighting in Marawi began after government forces moved to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino militant regarded as the local leader of Daesh Takfiris. That sparked a rampage by dozens of gunmen who started attacks on churches and government buildings. A priest and up to 14 other people have been taken hostage from a church with officials still undetermined on their whereabouts.

The government of Duterte has also blamed local criminals for the surge in violence in southern Philippines, saying they have been assisting the militants to make up for the blows that they have suffered from the government forces over the past year.

Duterte has said that he would extend the martial law as long as necessary to quell what he describes as a fast-growing threat from terrorists linked to Daesh.

More than 120,000 have been killed in nearly five decades of militancy in southern Philippines. 

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