[Sky News] Over four days in Marawi, Sky News watched the Philippine military carry out repeated air strikes, bombers wheeling overhead and diving towards targets in the city. The fighting is intense and sustained - mortars and helicopters mounted with machine guns are being used, as well as armored personnel carriers and ground troops.Philippine forces train to combat militants in jungle conditions, but here they are facing urban warfare, fighting street-to-street, at times house-to-house. We saw armored vehicles reinforced with planks of wood in an improvised attempt to withstand anti-tank weaponry and rocket-propelled grenades fired by the rebels.
Drone footage from inside rebel-held territory showed a mosque believed to be used as a base - local fighters are also said to have knowledge of tunnel networks and bomb shelters beneath the city. The mosque has not been targeted by the military, but whole streets around it have been flattened. We saw large fires burning in the ruins.
One commanding officer told us some of the trapped civilians are being used as slaves and orderlies by the rebels, with some being forced to wear black robes and act as human shields. Lt Col Christopher Tampus, commander of 1st Infantry Battalion said, "Those hostages are being dressed, we have some visuals of this. They are being dressed with a black-like robe. We believe these are civilians because we can easily see how they move."
We set out to reach a family we had heard was still in touch with relatives trapped inside, but as we ran across the street to their house a bullet landed less than a meter from our team. It appeared we were being targeted.
We planned to stay in the building until the threat outside subsided, but then a fire started. It was not clear whether deliberately or not. We had to get out, but the only way was back across the same street. We lined up to make the run, one at a time, into our vehicle, crouching low inside until we had reached relative safety.
We passed a dead dog, abandoned in the road, and black graffiti as a reminder of what they were running from. "WELCOME ISIS!" one scrawled message read. Another had a picture of a skull and cross-bones beneath an ISIS slogan.We spoke to the uncle of a young man killed fighting for the Maute group, who told us there are many more like him. He said, "In my village, the number of recruited were 10. Actually there are lots of them that have already been killed in the fighting in Marawi. There are a lot because Abdullah Maute targeted Cotabato City. He convinced a lot of teenagers..."
On Sunday, a temporary ceasefire was declared to mark the end of Ramadan, and allow a humanitarian pause. A delegation of religious leaders and volunteers, armed only with megaphones, headed out across the front line to try to negotiate the release of some of the trapped civilians. But as we waited for news, a number of shots were fired into our street, forcing everyone to take cover behind parked cars.
Three hours later, the rescue teams re-emerged, bringing with them a 14-month old girl and her mother, father, grandfather, and aunt. The family had hidden in their employer's basement for 33 days. The 14-month-old girl and her family spent 33 days hidden in a basement
His daughter-in-law had given birth while they were trapped, but the baby did not survive. The teams also brought out the body of a 72-year-old man, who had suffered a stroke, and died before he could be reached.
Even as the rescued family was being taken to hospital, the fighting in Marawi resumed. The military insists the rebel leadership is crumbling and victory is irreversible but declined to say when it might come.