Duterte: Mindanao under martial law

Announcement as dozens of gunmen fight security forces

MANILA // Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte yesterday declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, where security forces have been battling ISIL-linked militants. Mr Duterte’s spokesman made the nationally televised announcement from Moscow where the president was on an official visit.

Mindanao is made up of a large island of the same name, and smaller islands, and makes up about one third of the country.

The spokesman later clarified that martial law applied to the entire Mindanao region and would be in place for 60 days.

He said Mr Duterte would cut short his trip to Moscow and return to the Philippines.

Yesterday, security forces battled dozens of gunmen in a built- up area of Marawi, a city of about 200,000 people in Mindanao. Marawi is about 800 kilometres south of Manila, the capital.

At least three members of the security forces were killed and 12 wounded in the clashes, which began when police and soldiers raided a house where they believed that Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group and the Philippine head of ISIL, was hiding.

Photos posted on social media by residents showed the gunmen walking through the streets of Marawi and placing a black flag, which looked similar to those used by ISIL.

Based on the most southern islands of Mindanao, Abu Sayyaf has kidnapped hundreds of Filipinos and foreigners since the early 1990s to extract ransoms.

The militants beheaded an elderly German this year and two Canadians last year after ransom demands were not met.

They were also blamed for the Philippine’s worst terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004.

Security analysts said Hapilon had been trying to unite Philippine militant groups that had professed allegiance to ISIL. These include the Maute group, which is based near Marawi, hundreds of kilometres to the north of the Abu Sayyaf strongholds. Maute has engaged in deadly battles with the military over the past year in rural areas around Marawi.