A video posted by the gunmen showed armed men throwing down and stomping on the images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph and tearing up posters of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI.

ISIS (also known as Maute) gunmen began their attack on the city two weeks ago.

They are said to have stocked weapons and food in mosques, basements and tunnels to prepare for a siege.

A Catholic bishop, a Muslim cleric and the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) denounced the attack on St. Mary's Cathedral.

Bishop Edwin de la Peña said burning the cathedral and smashing images of the crucified Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, showed the extremists are "trampling on the Catholic faith."

"That is blasphemy. It's unacceptable. It's obvious that their actions are really out of this world. It's demonic," he said.

ARMM urged people not to allow the incident to cause division between Muslims and Christians in the region.

The ISIS-inspired fighters include hundreds of foreign extremists, many in their teens, from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Morocco.

The battle for Marawi has raised concerns Islamic State is building a southeast Asian base on the island of Mindanao at the southern end of the Philippines.

Source

• Mirror
• Inquirer.net
• Breitbart