Marawi (Philippines): Philippine forces found corpses in the streets of a besieged southern city on Sunday, including at least eight civilians who appeared to have been executed, as soldiers battled a weakened but still forceful group of militants linked to the Islamic State group.
The death toll from six days of fighting neared 100.
The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday to declare 60 days of martial law in the southern Philippines, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has raged for decades. But the recent bloodshed in Marawi has raised fears that extremism is growing as smaller militant groups unify and align themselves with the Islamic State group.
Thousands of civilians have streamed out of Marawi and more than 2,000 were still trapped inside the city. Many sent desperate text messages begging to be rescued and reporting that their homes had been destroyed, said Zia Alonto Adiong, an official in Lanao del Sur, one of the country's poorest provinces.
The Associated Press was shown the messages by relief workers at a provincial government complex in Marawi. Another message asked authorities to retrieve three bodies that were rotting near a resident's home.
Speaking at the evacuation centre on Sunday, Saddat Liong said his house was hit by mortar fire and burned to the ground. Liong, his wife and eight children lost everything, he said - even their cooking pots.
"We believe they're now low on ammunition and food," he said, speaking by phone from Manila, the capital. "Compared to the initial days, there has been increasingly less resistance from the militants within Marawi."
Padilla said the bodies of four men, three women and a child were found near a road close to Mindanao State University in Marawi.
Marawi is a mostly Muslim city.
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