Muslims in Marawi risk their lives to help Christians escape from extremists

Muslim residents of the city of Marawi in southern Philippines have risked their lives to help dozens of Christians escape from Islamic extremists.

On Saturday, government troops and the Provincial Crisis Management Center rescued 163 civilians who have been trapped in the city for 11 days, Rappler reported. Some of them were Christians who were protected by Marawi's Muslim residents, including one of the city's most respected politicians, Norodin Alonto Lucman.

Lucman, the former deputy governor of a Muslim self-ruled area that includes Marawi, took in 71 Christians in his home and hid them from the militants. He said that the gunmen, some of whom were neighbors and distant relatives, knocked on his door, asking for food and weapons, but he turned them away twice.

When his supplies ran out, he led 144 people through downtown streets held by ISIS militants.

"[The city] is strewn with debris, dead bodies of chickens, rats, dogs, even the smell of rotting flesh," Lucman said, regarding their dangerous trek. "As we walked many people saw us on the street and they joined us," he added.

Residents started receiving text messages on Saturday, warning them about an imminent major assault by Philippines aircraft and ground troops in the center of Marawi.

Leny Paccon, who provided refuge to 54 people, including 44 Christians, said that they fled from her home after she got a tip from the general commander telling her to leave.

The government estimated that about 120 militants, 38 government forces and 20 civilians have died since the siege began. But Lucman estimated that he had seen more than 1,000 dead bodies in the streets during their escape.

In another part of the city, 23 Christian teachers, along with 15 other civilians, also fled to safety after hiding from the militants for nearly two weeks.

"We laid on the floor in the dark each night whenever we heard gunshots or explosions. We barricaded the doors with furniture and a refrigerator," said 27-year-old high school teacher Jerona Sedrome, according to The National.

After the militants forced their way in, the teachers hid in a tunnel beneath the house, where they survived on steamed rice and rainwater. "If it didn't rain we had no water and we didn't eat," said Sedrome's younger sister and fellow teacher, Jane Rose Sedrome.

Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana noted that there were about 250 militants holding strategic buildings in downtown Marawi. He said that there is no indication that the extremists would surrender or flee, and he could not confirm how long the military operation would take to drive them out of the city due to mounting fears of civilian casualties.

About 2,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in Marawi, which once had a population of 200,000 people.

"We believe this is ISIL because normally in this kind of conflict the local fighters will just scamper away and maybe hide in the mountains," Lorenzana said. "But surprisingly this group has just holed up there and are just waiting to fight it out maybe to the last," he added.