Islamist militants occupying a southern Philippine city have forced nearly 400,000 people in the wider area to flee their homes, officials said today, while warning of disease outbreaks and psychological trauma among refugees. The city of Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been reduced to a ghost town after self-styled followers of the Islamic State movement launched an assault on the city on May 23. The fighting has left over 400 people dead, while the Maute fighters still control parts of the city, using snipers and improvised explosive devices to slow the military's advance. "There are also cases of psychological trauma from the fighting." President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law over the southern Philippines to deal with the crisis, vowed on Saturday that government forces would crush the extremists.

Source: dna July 01, 2017 13:41 UTC