- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law Tuesday on the southern island of Mindanao as security forces battled heavily armed militants linked to the Islamic State in a provincial capital.
Duterte issued the declaration in Moscow, where he was on an official visit.
Earlier Tuesday, Philippine forces clashed with militants in Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur Province on Mindanao, during a government attempt to capture Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of an Islamic State branch in Southeast Asia who pledged allegiance to the terrorist group in 2014.
At least two soldiers and one police officer have been killed and a dozen other soldiers wounded in the fighting, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, according to ABS-CBN News.
He described the militants as members of the Maute group, a radical Islamist organization also known as the Islamic State of Lanao. It is said to be made up of former members of a long-standing Muslim separatist group on Mindanao and some foreign fighters.
Mindanao has been the center of a decades-old insurgency by Muslim rebel factions in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Lt. Gen. Eduardo Ano, the armed forces chief of staff, said nearly 50 gunmen entered Marawi City, which has a population of about 200,000, and burned houses and other buildings to sow confusion during the fighting, the Associated Press reported. (ontinueReading
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