Filipino rebels ‘take’ city, martial law imposed
PANTAR: Thousands of civilians fled fighting in the Philippines yesterday as troops sought to contain Islamic State-linked militants who took over large parts of a city, set buildings ablaze and took hostage a Catholic priest and other Christians.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on his native island of Mindanao following a failed raid by soldiers on Tuesday on a hideout of the Maute militant group, which triggered clashes and chaos across the largely Muslim city of Marawi.
Duterte has long threatened martial law to destroy the Maute group and the allied Abu Sayyaf, which he warns are trying to create an Islamic State presence in the Christian-majority Philippines. He says they must be stopped before it is too late.
He cut short a visit to Russia and warned there would be a tough response, likening the situation to the 1970s rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, remembered by many Filipinos as one of the darkest chapters of their recent history.
Duterte said martial law under Marcos was “very good” and he might consider more security measures elsewhere in the Philippines.
“I was asked what would be my response to terrorism and I said I would be harsh and harsh in enforcing the law,” Duterte told reporters.
“I have always said ‘do not force my hand into it’ because if I start to declare martial law I will solve all the problems of Mindanao connected with law and order.”
Soldiers and rebels set up checkpoints and roadblocks on routes out of Marawi and a stream of men, women and children fled late on Tuesday and yesterday, cramming into jeeps loaded with belongings.
The military gave few details about the clashes, nor did they say if any rebels had been killed. The military has not explained how the raid on an apartment hideout resulted in Maute gunmen going on the rampage and taking over roads, bridges and buildings.
Fighting abated yesterday as the military tried to isolate fighters while awaiting reinforcements. There was no update on the toll of three members of the security forces authorities reported killed and 12 people wounded.
The armed forces said the situation was under control but residents who fled said Marawi was in the hands of the rebels, who had allowed civilians to leave. “The city is still under the control of the armed group. They are all over the main roads and two bridges leading to Marawi,” student Rabani Mautum said in Pantar town.
“I was in school when we heard gunfire… When we came out, there were bloodstains in the building but we did not see dead or wounded.”
The rebels took hostage Father Chito Suganob, a priest at the city’s Cathedral of Our Lady Help of Christians, and several other Christians, according to the head of the country bishops’ association.
“They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,” said Father Socrates Villegas, president of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.