Islamist militants kill 19 in south Philippines: army

Islamist militants locked in street-to-street battles with security forces in a southern Philippine city have killed 19 civilians, the military said today, 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 (IS) group.

Authorities said the militants 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 AFP.

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(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)