MANILA — The Philippine military said on Sunday that troops had found the bodies of 16 people believed to have been killed by Islamist militants, as fighting continued for a sixth day for control of Marawi City in the southern part of the country.

The discovery of the bodies underlined the civilian toll from the siege, with tens of thousands of residents fleeing the city and the military using aerial bombing and ground troops in an effort to drive the militants from their strongholds.

On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte declared a 60-day period of martial law in the south to expand his authority to fight the militants. Late Friday, he expressed support for the troops by joking that they could each rape three women without suffering any consequences. His comment ignited outrage around the world.

The authorities put the death toll from the six days of fighting at 95, including 61 militants, 19 civilians and 15 soldiers and police officers. </s> Five Filipino soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in the southern Philippines during an operation against the alleged perpetrators of last week's attack on a cathedral in Jolo that killed at least 20 people, the army said on Sunday.

Another 18 soldiers were wounded during the one hour, 50 minute-long gun battle that began at around 11:30 am on Saturday in Patikul in Sulu province, spokesperson Col. Gerry Besana said according to the official Philippine News Agency. </s> Troops in the Philippines have found the bodies of what appeared to be executed civilians outside a besieged city as fighting between the military and an Islamic State-linked group carries on in the south. About 100 people have been killed so far in the last six days.

(Photo: Reuters/Philippine National Red Cross via Reuters TV)Abu Sayyaf rebels are seen in the Philippines in this video grab made available February 6, 2009.

The bodies of 16 civilians were found in two locations. Eight bodies were found near Mindanao State University in Marawi City and included four men, three women and a child, The New York Times quoted Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, a military spokesman, as saying.

The bodies of the eight other victims were found in a ditch at the edge of the city with their hands tied and gunshot wounds to the head. A cardboard sign that was tied to one of the bodies said "Munafik," which means hypocrite or traitor. Nine spent bullet casings were also found on a blood-stained patch of road, according to Reuters, which reported that the eight men, who were shot in the head and some with hands tied behind their backs, were likely laborers who were stopped by militants while trying to flee clashes.

The killings were supposedly done by the local Maute group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Lanao. The group is trying to woo Islamic State in the Middle East for affiliation, according to the newswire.

The violence erupted in Asia's only Catholic-majority nation Tuesday after the army raided the hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group who has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. He is on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

The country's controversial President Rodrigo Duterte declared a 60-day martial law in southern Philippines last week. While showing support to the troops later, Duterte "joked" that each personnel could rape three women without any consequences, for which he was severely criticized.

At least 41 militants have been killed and 13 military men as of Saturday, the army said. The extent of civilian casualties is still unknown.

The military has been criticized for conducting air strikes and for hampering efforts to evacuate civilians. "Some have no food at all," Zia Alonto Adiong, a local politician who is coordinating efforts to get people out of the city, was quoted as saying. "Some fear for their lives. This is a conflict that has gone beyond proportion. The magnitude of the degree of the damage and the people that are affected ... it's really massive."

A Catholic priest and a number of worshipers were taken hostage last week after militants besieged Marawi and beheaded a police chief there.

Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Pena told The Associated Press earlier that the militants forced their way into the Marawi Cathedral and seized Catholic priest Fr. Chito Suganob, 10 worshipers and three church workers.

"We are in a state of emergency," Duterte said Wednesday. "I have a serious problem in Mindanao and the ISIS footprints are everywhere."

"If I think that you should die, you will die," Duterte warned in declaring martial rule while noting that law-abiding citizens would be kept safe. "If you fight us, you will die. If there is open defiance, you will die. And if it means many people dying, so be it." </s> Manila: Government troops have found eight bodies of civilians who were allegedly executed by militants in Marawi city in southern Philippines, bringing the death toll in the six-day clashes between army and militants to 95, a military spokesman said on Sunday.

Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said the eight bodies, including women and a child, were found on Saturday night and Sunday morning in Marawi city, which has been under siege by Maute militants since Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

"The bodies (found) consist of four males, three females and a child," Padilla said, adding that the discovery of the eight bodies "validates" reports that militants have indeed killed civilians.

"We are still validating other reports of atrocities by militants," Padilla said. To date, he said, 19 civilians have been confirmed to have been executed by militants.

Padilla said so far, 61 militants have been killed in the firefight and that 11 soldiers and four policemen have also been killed.

Padilla said in a statement that the troops will continue "precision" air strikes and artillery fire at specific targets in the city where the Maute militants are hiding.

Padilla said the ongoing military air strikes and military actions focus on freeing a still undetermined number of civilians trapped in the city's interiors.

"Precision airstrikes and artillery fire will likewise continue at specific targets to hasten the clearing," Padilla said.

The Philippine media reported on Sunday that heavy fighting, explosions and airstrikes continued as troops sealed the city of Maute militants.

Hundreds of Marawi city residents have fled as the military operations to flush out the militants intensified.

"Our forces are working overtime to hasten the restoration of the rule of law and Marawi's return to normalcy," Padilla said.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines on Tuesday night, vowed to crack down on local militants who have alleged links with ISIS and seek to carve out a caliphate out of Mindanao.

"Until the police and armed forces say the Philippines is safe, this martial law will continue," he told soldiers in Iligan City on Saturday.

The violence that broke out on Tuesday afternoon on the southern island left 95 people dead, the military said. The military has earlier said that some of the dead militants are foreigners from neighbouring countries.

Mindanao is home to a number of Muslim insurgent groups seeking more autonomy. The insurgents have been fighting the government for decades. </s> MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military says three soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in nearly two hours of fighting against about 150 Muslim militants in the south.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan says Abu Sayyaf gunmen withdrew after the fierce clash on Saturday in the mountains of Patikul town in Sulu province, and are being pursued by government forces. He says an unspecified number of militants were either wounded or killed.

Tan said Sunday the militants were led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander long wanted by the U.S. and Philippine governments for his alleged role in kidnappings for ransom and other acts.

Malaysian forces killed three Abu Sayyaf gunmen and captured two others in a failed kidnapping attempt in Malaysia's Sabah state near the southern Philippines on Thursday. </s> MANILA, Philippines — Fierce clashes erupted Friday between government troops and Muslim extremists in southern Philippines, leaving at least 14 combatants dead, the military said.

The dead included 10 Abu Sayyaf rebels, although troops recovered only three bodies, said military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan.

Four were killed and nine wounded on the government side, he said.

The fighting began when army units encountered some 150 militants in Patikul township in Sulu province and exchanged fire until the extremists withdrew, Tan said. Soldiers then pounded the rebels' position with artillery fire and put up checkpoints as they pursued the militants.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization, holds more than a dozen foreign and local hostages.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June, has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, known for its brutality and ties to foreign militants. He has ruled out the possibility of any peace talks with them as he pursues negotiations with two other larger Muslim insurgent groups. </s> MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine military spokesman says at least five soldiers and three Muslim militants were killed in a fierce battle as troops pressed a new offensive in the south following a deadly church bombing blamed on Islamic State group-linked gunmen.

Regional military spokesman Col. Gerry Besana says another five soldiers and 15 militants were wounded in nearly two hours of fighting Saturday between army troops and about 150 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the jungles off Patikul town in Sulu province.

Besana says the militants were led by Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who has been suspected of plotting the bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Sulu capital of Jolo on Sunday that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others. Sawadjaan apparently escaped. </s> Five Philippines soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Islamic militants in the south of the country, as they tried in vain to hunt down the suspected perpetrator of last Sunday’s double bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral.

An army spokesman said that five soldiers were killed on Jolo island by members of Abu Sayyaf, a notorious group of hostage takers who are believed to be behind the bombing of Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount in which 22 worshippers and soldiers died.

The army claims that it killed three militants during close to two hours of fighting on Saturday in jungle on the outskirts of the town of Patikul. It admitted, however, that none of their bodies have been recovered. Eighteen soldiers were wounded. </s> Week of violence in southern Marawi City claims lives of 85 including police, fighters, women and children, army says.

Fighters locked in street-to-street battles with security forces in a southern Philippine city on Mindanao island have killed 19 civilians, the military said on Sunday, bringing the official death toll from nearly a week of fighting to at least 85.

The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on Tuesday across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat of "militants" linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Security forces are attempting to flush out rebels of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf armed groups, which have declared allegiance to ISIL.

Authorities said the fighters had killed 19 civilians in Marawi, a mostly Muslim-populated city of 200,000 people.

These included three women and a child who were found dead near a university.

"These are civilians, women. These terrorists are anti-people. We found their bodies while conducting rescue operations [on Saturday]," regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told the AFP news agency.

An AFP photographer saw another eight bodies by a road in the outskirts of Marawi on Sunday, with local residents identifying them as employees of a rice mill and a medical college.

Herrera said the military had yet to investigate the reported deaths.

The violence began when dozens of gunmen went on a rampage throughout Marawi after security forces attempted to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a veteran Filipino fighter regarded as the local leader of ISIL.

The gunmen planted black ISIL flags, took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage from a church, and set fire to buildings.

Thirteen soldiers, two policemen and 51 fighters have died in the clashes, according to authorities.

Thousands of the city's residents have fled because of the fighting, which has seen the military heavily bomb residential areas where the fighters were believed to be hiding.

The military announced on Saturday, the start of the holy month of Ramadan, that it would intensify the bombing campaign.

"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," military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said.

"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."

Duterte and military chiefs have said most of the fighters belong to the local Maute group, which they estimate has about 260 armed followers.

But Duterte has said local criminals are backing the Maute in Marawi.
The Philippine military announces that it has discovered the bodies of 16 people, believed to have been killed by the ISIL affiliated Abu Sayyaf. Authorities say that the death toll after six days of fighting is 95, including 19 civilians.