Christians Massacred As ISIS Affiliated Insurgents Ravage Southern Philippine Island

By Andrea Ruth | 5:45 PM on May 25, 2017

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Government troops head back to the site as they battle Muslim militants who lay siege in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, May 25, 2017. The exodus of thousands of residents has continued amid continuing gunbattle between Government forces and Muslim militants occupying several buildings and houses in the city where they hoisted IS style black flags.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Nine people were reportedly tied up and shot dead on Wednesday in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao where ISIS-affiliated group, Maute, has established a stronghold of terror this week.

According to local media reports, Maute terrorists forced a truck filled with civilians off the road and murdered them when they were identified as Christian. The Philippines is majority Roman Catholic.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte — a controversial leader in his own right — said that a police officer was beheaded by the group after being pulled off the road as well.

President Duterte has arrived back in The Philippines since cutting his trip to Moscow short after declaring martial law in the island nation amid the Maute groups uprising in Marawi City on its second largest southern island.

So far at least 21 people have been reported to be murdered by the Islamist Maute group.

President Duterte has deployed 100 U.S.-trained special forces to the area to put down the Maute group and stop its terrorizing and attempted takeover of the island.

The Philippines is the only Christian country in Asia, so it is unsurprising that an ISIS-linked group would set its sights on the islands.