Philippine troops bomb Islamist militants in besieged Marawi

MARAWI: Philippine security forces bombed residential areas in Marawi city on Thursday as they battled Islamist militants who were holding hostages and reported to have murdered at least 11 civilians.

An initial rampage on Tuesday by gunmen who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to impose martial law across the southern third of the country.

Authorities said ending the crisis was proving extremely hard because, although there were only 30 to 40 gunmen remaining, the militants were moving nimbly through homes, had planted bombs in the streets and were holding hostages.

Intense gunfighting could be heard constantly throughout the day, and the military said it had dropped bombs on residential neighbourhoods.

“We are using surgical airstrikes,” local military spokesman Lt Col Jo-Ar Herrera told reporters in Marawi.

Most of the 200,000 residents had fled the city, about 800 km south of Manila, but Herrera said those who remained were warned to get out of areas where there was bombing and fighting.

Eleven soldiers, two policemen and 31 militants have died in the three days of fighting, according to authorities. Thirty-nine soldiers have been wounded, the military said.

SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadists online, said IS claimed killing more than 70 soldiers in Marawi and 10 more in the remote southern island of Jolo. The claims could not be independently confirmed.