Marawi Update as of May 28, 2017, 2:19 pm local time
As Ramadan has begun, thousands of people displaced from the fighting in Marawi are celebrating the holy month away from their homes, waiting for the fighting to stop so they can go back. To those still in the city, they wake up to gun shots, airstrikes, and pray that it will be over soon.
As of right now airstrikes and ongoing fire fight are still going on, however there has been more emphasis on airstrikes. The Maute group have been rounding up and killing Christians. Some were fleeing Marawi to Iligan but were stopped by Maute members where they separated the Christian citizens from those who were Muslim. They were told to recite Islamic prayers to prove they were Muslim and those who couldn’t were taken and killed. Eight bodies have been found, in a ditch, tied up, with gunshot wounds to their heads with placards saying “munafik”, traitor, by them, less than a kilometer away from a security checkpoint on the Iligan-Marawi border. They were bakers from a local bakery according to two women who identified them.
Those still trapped in the city are desperately hiding their Christian friends in hidden rooms, teaching them how to recite Islamic prayers in case their homes are raided and they are found by Maute members, to help them not be captured.
People who haven’t left Marawi yet but are fleeing to Iligan have been told by the military to wave white flags while walking through the streets of Marawi to show the military that they are innocent civilians passing through and not Maute members.
So far, 19 civilians including the 8 men found in the ditch, are currently known to have died. Among the 19 dead include 3 women and a young child found by the military near one of the universities during a rescue operation.
With the ongoing fights between the Maute group and the military thousands of citizens from Marawi are now displaced, unable to go home after almost a week since the siege. Food, water, and supplies are desperately needed in many places where the evacuee’s have escaped to.














