Muhamer Macayman cowered for four days as bullets tore through the shanty home he was hiding in, praying neither the rampaging Islamist militants nor the Philippine soldiers hunting them would kill him.

Like many others, Macayman became trapped when gunmen flying the black flags of the Islamic State group launched an assault on the southern city of Marawi last week, triggering clashes that have claimed more than 170 lives.

Aid workers and local lawmakers have called in vain for a humanitarian ceasefire, warning an estimated 2,000 stranded people are in grave danger of being caught in the crossfire of battle, military airstrikes, hunger and sickness.

But Macayman was among the lucky ones, and recounted to AFP on Thursday a terror-filled initial phase of the ordeal hiding in his home with his father, followed by an epic escape that involved a perilous swim across a raging river.

"We kept still and quiet and prayed that our ordeal would end," said Macayman, 21, as he recalled watching eight-centimetre (three-inch) bullet slugs apparently from automatic rifles hit the corrugated roof of his home then fall to the ground.

Macayman, a Muslim like almost all of Marawi's 200,000 residents, said his greatest fear was the militants who were in the strategically better position uphill.

With food running low after four days, and the growing danger of being discovered, Macayman, his father and six other men from their village slipped out in the dark to embark on what turned into a five-day escape.

Their mission was to raise the alarm and seek help for the children and others who were unable to undertake such a gruelling mission.

"Getting out was difficult because they (militants) were firing over the rooftops," Macayman told AFP as he recovered at an evacuation centre.

- Human shield -

The escape involved climbing a mountain at night and swimming the Agus river to reach the city's west side.

"One of our companions is heavyset and he nearly drowned because of the strong current," Nasser Abdul, 45, one of Macayman's friends, told AFP about the swim.

Both men said they dared not use lights or cook at night during the journey for fear of alerting the militants.

"We survived on dry noodles, eaten raw," Macayman said.

When they got to safety and alerted authorities, a military convoy was dispatched to pick up Macayman's trapped neighbours on Wednesday, including Abdul's four young children.

In a dramatic rescue in which both soldiers and civilians came under sniper fire, the soldiers formed a human shield around the residents, who waved pieces of white clothing toward a white truck, an AFP photographer saw.

No one was injured in the attack, though the impoverished village of huts made of coconut planks bore signs of the militants' ferocity.

The house of a local politician was reduced to its concrete shell, with part of its upper front wall blown out, apparently with high explosives.

A ramshackle police detachment, with barracks made of bamboo and thatch, was burnt to the ground.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jo-ar Herrera, military spokesman for the government campaign to retake Marawi, said the situation was growing increasingly desperate for those who remained trapped, with the militants holding some people as "human shields".

"There is a real sense of confusion, of hunger. There is also the pressing issue about of course the lack of food, the lack of water, and the lack of protection," he said.

The Philippine military has also relentlessly bombed the buildings where the militants have been hiding.

It has insisted the airstrikes are "surgical" but, highlighting the dangers for everyone on the ground, defence chiefs said 11 soldiers were killed on Wednesday when a bombing mission went wrong and hit troops.

Macayman said he could only attribute his survival to God.

"It's a sign from above," he said.

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New York (AFP) May 31, 2017
A former US Air Force mechanic was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State extremist group and for obstruction of justice. The 49-year-old veteran and Muslim convert was convicted at trial in New York last March, having being arrested in New Jersey in January 2015. Prosecutors said Tairod Pugh tried to join the IS group by ... read more

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