<p>Residents continued to flee Marawi City in the Philippines on May 25 as security forces clashed with attackers from the Islamic State-linked separatist group Maute.</p><p>Official reports said that 44 people had been killed in the fighting by May 26, including 11 soldiers.</p><p>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the imposition of martial law in the area. He was cited in local press telling the Senate that Maute’s activities “constitute not simply a display of force, but a clear attempt to establish the group’s seat of power in Marawi City for their planned establishment of a Daesh [IS] wilayat or province covering the entire Mindanao.”</p><br />
