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Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law in the country's south for 60 days after an attack by Muslim extremists allied with the Islamic State (IS) group.
Key Points:
- Mr Duterte's martial law will last 60 days
- Fighting broke out when the hideout of a top terrorist was raided
- Gunmen stormed the city, burning a church, jail, and houses
Mr Duterte has cut short his trip to Moscow — where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin — to return home and deal with the developing situation.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told a news conference in Moscow martial rule took effect on Tuesday evening in the southern region of Mindanao "on the grounds of existence of rebellion".
Philippines Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he informed his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, of Mr Duterte's decision to fly home early to deal with the crisis.
Mr Cayetano said he would stay behind in Moscow, where a number of agreements are to be signed between the governments.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said troops raided the hideout of a top terrorist suspect in southern Marawi city on Tuesday, sparking a gun battle that prompted the militants to call for reinforcements from an allied group, the Maute.
He said dozens of gunmen occupied city hall, a hospital and a jail and set fire to a Catholic church, a jail, a college and some houses in a bold attack that killed at least two soldiers and a police officer and wounded 12 others.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the militants forced their way into a cathedral in Marawi and seized a priest, 10 worshippers and three church workers.
The priest, Father Chito, and the others had no role in the conflict, Archbishop Villegas said.
"He was not a combatant. He was not bearing arms. He was a threat to none," he said of Chito.
"His capture and that of his companions violates every norm of civilised conflict."
Archbishop Villegas said the gunmen were demanding the Government recall its forces.
University of the Philippines-Diliman's Aries Arugay said local terrorist groups were trying to capture the attention of IS.
"This has something to do with their failure in proving that they could be vaible governors and this is something that IS has always focused [on]," Associate Professor Arugay told the ABC's The World program.
"Having some violent clashes with the military works in their favour because they have the ability to show they have the firepower."
Several militants were killed in the fighting in Marawi city in Lanao del Sur province, about 830 kilometres south of Manila, but others continued to lay siege to the largely Muslim city of more than 200,000 people, officials said, adding that power was cut in the city in a chaotic scene.
"The whole of Marawi city is blacked out, there is no light, and there are Maute snipers all around," Mr Lorenzana said.
He added that Mr Duterte's martial law declaration will help government forces carry out searches and arrests and detain rebel suspects more quickly.
He said offensives would also be staged in other southern provinces plagued by extremist groups.
Duterte says local police chief beheaded by militants
- The Maute group an armed Muslim group that's pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
- Hapilon was reportedly designated the leader of the alliance.
- The Maute has been blamed for a bomb attack that killed 15 people in southern Davao city, Duterte's hometown, last September.
- Last month, troops killed dozens of Maute militants and captured their jungle camp near Lanao del Sur's Piagapo town.
- Troops found homemade bombs, grenades, combat uniforms and passports of suspected Indonesian militants in the camp, the military said.
Despite the moves, Mr Lorenzana said the Government remained in control of the situation in Marawi city and other security trouble spots in the south.
While pursuing peace talks with two large Muslim rebel groups in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, Mr Duterte ordered the military to destroy smaller extremist groups which have tried to align with IS.
Mr Duterte repeatedly threatened to place the south, the scene of decades long Muslim uprisings, under martial law if terrorism spiralled out of control.
Speaking after returning from Moscow, Mr Duterte said on Wednesday he would consider martial law in other parts of the Philippines "in order to protect the people."
"If I think that ISIS has taken a foothold also in Luzon [the main northern island] and terrorism is not really far behind, I might declare martial law throughout the country."
He also said that militants who stormed southern Marawi city beheaded the local police chief at a checkpoint they set up.
Human rights groups have expressed fears martial law powers could further embolden Mr Duterte, whom they have accused of allowing extrajudicial killings of thousands of drug suspects in a crackdown on illegal drugs.
Hapilon: One of America's most wanted terrorists
Military chief of staff General Eduardo Ano said the fighting broke out in Marawi when troops attacked a hideout for Muslim extremist leader Isnilon Hapilon.
Mr Hapilon was reportedly chosen to lead an Islamic State group branch in South-East Asia and is on the US Department of Justice list of most-wanted terrorists worldwide, with a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.
An Arabic-speaking Islamic preacher known for his expertise in commando assaults, he pledged allegiance to the IS group in 2014, according to security officials.
General Ano said Mr Hapilon — still recovering from wounds sustained in a military airstrike in January — and more than a dozen of his men summoned reinforcements from their allies in the Maute militant group.
General Ano said nearly 50 gunmen in all managed to enter the city.
One group of about 20 gunmen took position in a hospital, where they raised a black IS-style flag at the gate, and 10 other militants went near a provincial jail where troops and policemen engaged them in fighting, he said.
Troops sealed off major entry and exit points to prevent Mr Hapilon from escaping, General Ano told The Associated Press by telephone from Moscow.
"They did some burnings, they showed up in another area so it looked chaotic, but it's actually a small group facing an overwhelming number of government forces," General Ano said.
"We will conduct house-to-house clearing and do everything to remove the threat there."
"We can do that easily," he said, but added it was more difficult in an urban setting because of the need to avoid civilian casualties.
AP
Topics: world-politics, terrorism, philippines
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