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.

SS