Duterte declares martial law

Troops battle IS-linked gunmen

MANILA, Philippines, May 23, (Agencies): Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday declared martial law in southern Mindanao province after fighting raged in southern Marawi City between the army and militants linked to Islamic state.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella made the announcement in Moscow, where the president is on a visit.

A meeting with Dmitry Medvedev will be cancelled on Wednesday but Duterte will remain in Russia, Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano said in a televised news conference.

Battled

Earlier, Philippine troops battled heavily armed militants allied with the Islamic State group on Tuesday in an effort to capture a top extremist suspect in a southern city where the gunmen burned houses to sow confusion during the fighting. Military chief of staff Gen Eduardo Ano said at least one police officer was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which broke out in the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi when troops attacked a hideout for Muslim militant leader Isnilon Hapilon.

Some militants were also killed or wounded, officials said.

Hapilon reportedly has been chosen to lead an Islamic State group branch in Southeast 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.

Ano said Hapilon, who is still recovering from wounds sustained in an airstrike by the air force in January, and more than a dozen of his men summoned reinforcements from their allies in the Maute militant group, which deployed more fighters into Marawi. Ano said nearly 50 gunmen in all managed to enter the bustling commercial city of more than 200,000 people.

One group of about 20 gunmen took position near a hospital, where they raised a black Islamic State group-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 Hapilon from escaping, Ano told The Associated Press by telephone from Moscow, where he was accompanying President Rodrigo Duterte on a visit. “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,” Ano said.