Manila. Militants linked to Islamic State swept through a southern Philippine city, beheading a police chief, burning buildings, seizing a Roman Catholic priest and his worshippers and raising the black flag of Isis, regional authorities have said.
President Rodrigo Duterte had declared martial law across the southern third of the country – where Marawi city is located – and warned on Wednesday that he may expand it nationwide. At least 21 people were killed in the fighting, officials said.
As details of the attack in Marawi emerged, fears mounted that the largest Roman Catholic state in Asia could join a growing list of countries grappling with the spread of influence from Isis in Syria and Iraq.
The violence erupted on Tuesday after the army raided the hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group that has pledged allegiance to Isis. He is on Washington’s list of most-wanted terrorists with a $5m (£3.9m) reward for information leading to his capture.
The militants called for reinforcements and about 100 gunmen entered Marawi, a mostly Muslim city of 200,000 people on the southern island of Mindanao, according to the defence secretary, Delfin Lorenzana said.
“We are in a state of emergency,” Duterte said on Wednesday after he cut short a trip to Moscow and flew back to Manila, the Philippine capital. “I have a serious problem in Mindanao and the Isis footprints are everywhere.” He declared martial law for 60 days in Mindanao, home to 22 million people, and vowed to be “harsh”.
“If I think that you should die, you will die,” he said. “If you fight us, you will die. If there is open defiance, you will die. And if it means many people dying, so be it.”
But Duterte said he would not allow abuses and law-abiding citizens had nothing to fear.
Marawi’s bishop, Edwin de la Peña, said the militants forced their way into the city’s cathedral and seized a Roman Catholic priest, 10 worshippers and three staff.
The priest, Father Chito, and the others had no role in the conflict, said Socrates Villegas, archbishop and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
“He was not a combatant. He was not bearing arms. He was a threat to none,” Villegas said of Chito. “His capture and that of his companions violates every norm of civilised conflict.”
Villegas said the gunmen were demanding the government recall its forces.
A military spokesman, Col Edgard Arevalo, said 13 militants had been killed, and five soldiers had died and 31 others had been wounded. Other officials said a security guard and two police officers were also killed, including the beheaded chief.