The Philippine military said on Wednesday it was likely that large numbers of civilians had been killed during the five-week occupation of a southern town by rebels. A toll of 27 Marawi residents killed was only what the authorities could independently confirm and a "significant number" of dead had been seen by those who had escaped fighting between insurgents and government forces, Reuters quoted military spokesman Restituto Padilla as saying. "The number you have right now is 27, (it) may increase significantly once we are able to validate all this information," he told a news conference. "There have been a significant number that have been seen but again, we cannot include many of these." He said the cause of those deaths would be "atrocities committed by the terrorists".
