A large area of Marawi City has been devastated by almost daily artillery shelling and aerial bombings to try to dislodge Maute terrorists who are believed to be holding as many as 100 hostages.

ABS-CBN News has acquired latest photos from inside the war zone in the city near a mosque that has become a no man's land, weeks after the fighting began between government troops and Maute gunmen.

The terrorist group attacked Marawi on May 23, with the intent to establish a "wilayat", or Islamic State province.

President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress for funds to recruit 20,000 new soldiers to battle rising threats from pro-Islamic State militants in the country's restive south, according to senators.

Hudreds of militants and soldiers have been killed in the fighting. - with a report from Reuters