This was the center of Marawi.
Today, residents call it "ground zero".
We get the military's permission to enter selected parts and are warned about unexploded
devices.
Last year a few hundred 'IS'-inspired fighters holed up in mosques and houses.
The army, with help from the US, responded with relentless air raids.
In this type of warfare you have to flush out the enemy from their defensive position
and you can only do that Number 1 using bombs or heavy artillery bombardment.
If you look at the experience of Mosul, Raqqa and Aleppo, all of these experienced bombings.
But in the case of Marawi City, when we did the bombings, we did it pinpointed to specific
targets only.
But people here paid a very high price for the 5-month-long battle.
Hundreds were killed.
They're buried in these mass graves.
Most of the victims were never identified, denying their families closure.
Over 65,000 people remain displaced.
Many are still searching for their loved ones.
Fatima has lost four of her eight children.
She believes they were taken hostage and used as human shields.
I feel a very deep pain inside of me.
I miss my children.
They were gone in a blink of an eye.
I can't be with them any more.
It hurts, because I can still feel them and hear them.
In the suburbs, life is slowly returning to normal, but the biggest Muslim city in the
Philippines has been changed forever.
Martial law remains in force, with soldiers everywhere.
The impoverished region has witnessed decades of conflict between Muslims and Christians
who make up the vast majority of the Filipino population.
Many young Muslims feel disenfranchised.
Last year Abdul spied on the military, passing on details of troop movements to 'IS' fighters
holed up in Marawi.
He tells us that he's still ready to fight for an Islamic state.
We have an advantage because we just blend in.
The military cannot easily identify us as fighters who know how to use a gun.
I would not fight in Marawi again, or in any other Muslim area here.
Then the same thing will happen again.
Our own Muslim people would get hurt.
But if the battle happens elsewhere, I will join.
Like many others, Abdul blames President Duterte for bombing Marawi.
The government has promised reconstruction and greater Muslim autonomy.
But until those promises are fulfilled, angry young men like Abdul continue to pose
a threat.