Disease fears grow as 400,000 flee

MANILA, Philippines - Islamist militants occupying a southern Philippine city have forced nearly 400,000 people in the wider area to flee their homes, officials said on Saturday, while warning of disease outbreaks and psychological trauma among refugees.

The city of Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been reduced to a ghost town after self-styled followers of the Islamic State movement launched an assault on the city on May 23.

For more than a month, the government has deployed jet fighters, attack helicopters and armored vehicles to crush the militants who are members of the so-called Maute group.