ISIS teenage fighters are ‘shooting people dead for failing to quote the Koran’ in besieged Philippines city as Duterte’s military warns jihadis to ‘surrender or die’
Up to 50,000 Filipino residents fled the city of Marawi in south of the country
They reported terror they left behind of young jihadis killing the city’s residents
Militants forced people to recite verses and murdered them when they couldn’t
Up to 2,000 residents are still feared trapped as president declared martial law
By GARETH DAVIES
DailyMail.com
30 May 2017
Teenage ISIS fighters are said to be shooting people dead for failing to quote the Koran in a besieged Philippines city.
As 50,000 people fled the city of Marawi in the south of the country, some reported the terror they had left behind.
Terrified residents reported young jihadis taking orders from commanders in their early 20s to force people to recite verses of the Islamic scripture, but when they failed, they would be shot dead to a chorus of laughter.
Philippine authorities on Tuesday warned Islamist militants occupying parts of a southern city to surrender or die, as attack helicopters pounded the gunmen’s strongholds where up to 2,000 residents are still feared trapped.
More than 100 people have been confirmed killed in the conflict, which began last week when gunmen waving black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group rampaged through the mostly Muslim-populated city of Marawi.
Tens of thousands managed to flee and one woman told The Telegraph her decision to leave was sealed when she witnessed teenage jihadis laughing at innocent people being shot.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao, home to roughly 20 million people, in response to the crisis as he warned that local militant groups were uniting behind IS and becoming a major security threat.
But the militants, initially estimated by the nation’s defence chief to number just 100, have withstood eight days of intense air assaults and street-to-street combat, prompting the government’s threats on Tuesday.
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