A police spokesman said the
men were targeted during an attempted evacuation of Marawi because they were unable to recite verses from the Qur’an. The official death toll after nearly a week of fighting stands at 85, but may be much higher. Many residents of Marawi, a city of about 200,000 people, have fled. Although the army has poured in ground troops, helicopter gunships and rocket batteries, fierce fighting continues.
But the Marawi siege and in particular, the hostage-taking and execution of civilians, have raised fears the Maute are deliberately emulating Isis tactics and doing its bidding to win recognition as its main south-east Asian affiliate. If so, it may be working. Isis’s Amaq news agency last week claimed responsibility for the siege.
Fears of an expanding Isis front in Mindanao have been stoked by government claims that Islamist militants from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are flocking to the Maute banner. In a report to congress last week, Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, blamed foreign jihadis for bolstering the rebellion and imposed martial law in the south of the country.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/isis-backed-militants-struggle-for-control-southern-philippines-marawi