Displaced residents take shelter at an evacuation center in Lanao Del Sur Province, the Philippines, May 31, 2017. More than 100 people, including civilians, have been killed in the week-long gun battles between the government forces and the Maute militant group in southern Philippine city of Marawi, which also forced the city's more than 200,000 residents to flee. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- More military airstrikes hit Maute-held hideouts on Tuesday as troops continued to flush out the remaining undetermined number of militants holed out in the besieged southern Philippine city of Marawi.
About 80 to 100 Islamist Maute militants attacked the city on Tuesday last week. Since then, the Islamic extremists have been engaging troops in fierce gun battles, ignoring the government's repeated appeal for them to surrender.
The heavily-armed militants occupied and burned a number of buildings in a bid to gain control of the city, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law in Mindanao and nearby island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi - known hideouts of the militants and their allies from Indonesia and Malaysia.
More than 100 people, including civilians, have been killed in the week-long gun battles that also forced the city's more than 200,000 residents to flee.
Local TV footage showed bullet-pocked walls of ruined buildings, blood-spattered pavement and images of bullet-riddled window glass.
There are no signs of letting up, according to local media reports.
"Precision airstrikes have been judiciously used to prevent collateral damage and employed at specific targets of resistance to protect our troops and to hasten clearing of the city of terrorist elements who continue to resist," Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella said Tuesday.
In a news conference at the Malacanang presidential palace, Abella said that so far 19 civilians, 17 soldiers, three policemen and 65 militants have been killed in the seven-day clashes.
The military said it has succeeded in retaking parts of the city but added it continues to face fierce resistance from militant snipers holed in buildings and houses.
"The current focus of the operation remains: clearing of Marawi of militants still in the area; rescue of trapped residents; and recovery of civilian casualties and victims," said Abella.
Abella reiterated the call of the government for the militants to surrender. "We call on the remaining terrorists to surrender when there is an opportunity," he said.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, the commander of the Western Mindanao Command, stressed "the need to be very careful and to make calculated actions" in the military operations "to avoid collateral damage and loss of life" especially among the civilians.
"Despite numerous attempts to reach out to the Maute (militants), they refused to have a stand down in order to evacuate civilians," Galvez said.
The government hopes to end the ongoing conflict by the end of the week.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesman for the military, predicted that the military will "come out victorious."
"For the terrorists, not surrendering will mean their sure death," Padilla said.
