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ISIS has burned buildings, beheaded a police chief, killed five soldiers and two policemen and kidnapped a priest, parish staff and parishioners in a rampage through Marawi, a mainly Muslim town in the southern Philippines.
Further atrocities are emerging as news reports filter out of the region.
The militants have raised the black ISIS flag in the town.
Exactly where the priest and others were when they were kidnapped is not clear.
One report from Bishop Edwin dela Peña said the terrorists broke into the priest’s house inside the Cathedral’s compound.
Another, from Philippines Bishops’ Conference president Archbishop Socrates Villegas, said the hostages were in St. Mary’s Cathedral when a Maute fighting group forced its way in and kidnapped them.
“They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,” the archbishop added.
The attack on Tuesday follows government forces raiding a militant leader’s hideout. Isnilon Hapiloa is a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Hapiloa is on Washington’s list of most-wanted terrorists with a US$5m reward for information leading to his capture.
President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a state of martial law in the south of the Philippines.
“We are in a state of emergency,” Duterte said on Wednesday.
“I have a serious problem in Mindanao and the Isis footprints are everywhere.”
Thirteen extremists have died in fighting since martial law was declared.
Fears are growing that the Philippines, which is the largest Catholic state in Asia, could join the countries grappling with the spread ISIS.
Source
- ABS CBN News
- The Guardian
- Express
- Image: Yahoo
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News category: World.
