Yahoo News Duterte imposes martial law in Philippines after Islamist militants go on rampage, 'beheading local police chief' and taking priest hostage
Islamist militants rampaging through a southern Philippine city beheaded a local police chief, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday.
He said the attack occurred near the southern city of Marawi, which is under siege by Islamic militants, as justification for imposing martial law across the southern third of the country.
"The chief of police in Malabang on his way home, going back he was stopped by a checkpoint manned by terrorists and I think they decapitated them right then and there," Mr Duterte he told a news conference.
Fighting erupted Tuesday after Philippines security forces raided a house in Marawi where they believed Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom gang and Philippine head of Islamic State, was hiding.
The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, offering a bounty of $5 million for his capture.
More than 100 gunmen responded to the raid by burning buildings and conducting other diversionary tactics, officials said, adding that thousands of residents have fled Marawi.
Police said an officer and two soldiers had been killed in the fighting, with at least eight others injured. It was unclear if the ambush on the local police chief was included in the official tally.
Mr Duterte said continuing sporadic skirmishes showed the group's "capability to sow terror and unleash harassment and inflict destruction" across the country's south.
He said he wouldn't rule out placing the entire country under martial law if the threat of Islamic State spreads.
Mr Duterte cut short a visit to Russia and placed the southern island of Mindanao under military rule on Tuesday, and said he would keep it that way for a year if necessary.
The President, who has been criticised by human rights organisations for his violent crackdown on drugs, told the public he will not allow abuses under martial rule.
Critics chided Duterte for what they saw as an overreaction in declaring martial law.
The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, a group of human rights attorneys, said the decision was "a sledgehammer, knee-jerk reaction" that would "open the flood gates for unbridled human rights violations and abuses".
Thousands flee as Catholic priest taken hostage
Thousands of civilians fled fighting on Wednesday as troops sought to contain militants who took over large parts of a city, set building ablaze and took hostage a Catholic priest and other Christians.
Soldiers and rebels set up checkpoints and road blocks on routes out of Marawi and a stream of men, women and children fled from late on Tuesday and on Wednesday, 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 on Wednesday as the military tried to isolate fighters while awaiting reinforcements.
The armed forces said the situation was under control but residents who fled told a different story and 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 told Reuters in Pantar town, about 16 km (10 miles) from Marawi.
"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.
"We beg every Filipino to pray fervently for Father Chito and for other hostages."
