Decomposed bodies retrieved by military in Marawi City

Rescuers have recovered 17 bodies of civilians believed to have been killed by ISIL fighters holed up in Marawi City, a besieged community in the southern Philippines, officials said.

"The recovered cadavers are believed to be those civilians who were helplessly murdered by the terrorists," said Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera, a spokesman for the task force battling the fighters in Marawi. "This is a manifestation of the brutality [of those] who killed these innocent civilians in cold blood," Herrera said.

Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Garcia of the Western Mindanao Command said in a text message to reporters that five bodies among the 17 victims were decapitated.