Filipinos at Mass worry about city, martial law

Calida said the Maute Group and Islamic State wanted to create an “ISIS province” in Mindanao and the government was not the only target of their aggression.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto said that Marawi in the Philippines could be the location of convergence for the Islamic State (ISIS).

The city of Marawi is slowly becoming a “ghost town” as thousands of residents have already deserted their beleaguered place from the time the dreaded Maute Group started to wreak havoc there.

According to Padilla, there have been reports of 12 Maute members neutralized in the on-going clearing operations, half of them were Singaporean, Indonesian and Malaysian nationals.

On Wednesday, Abu Sayyaf stormed the Marawi cathedral and took hostages, including a Catholic priest and worshippers.

Duterte made the declaration for the island of Mindanao, in the nation’s south. The operation left 15 militants dead, and the army said Hapilon was seriously wounded in the arm.

Romeo Enriquez said he is fine, adding that there may have been confusion because a former Malabang police chief was killed in the fighting – but he was not beheaded.

According to Enriquez, the former chief was fatally shot in a clash with the extremists on Tuesday outside a Marawi hospital.

The military launched the aerial assault after isolating the Maute militants who initially occupied several areas of Marawi since Tuesday.

The violence erupted Tuesday after the army raided the hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group who has pledged allegiance to IS.

Ano also said foreign fighters were believed to be inside, but he was more cautious.

Duterte has threatened harsh measures and said martial law would remain be maintained for as long as it took to restore order.

The Philippines has long fought a simmering Islamic insurgency in Mindanao, but it has signed peace deals with some of the main militant groups and contained others.

Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera says the helicopters are firing rockets in “a precision attack”.

The majority of Philippines are Catholic, however, in Marawi they make up only a small percent of the people.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo told ABS-CBN News: “I pray for the safety of all the hostages”. He also pointed to the Department of Defense’s memorandum that emphasizes the importance of upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights in the implementation of martial law.

The Maute group’s rise is a source of concern for Mindanao native Duterte, who is familiar with Muslim separatist unrest but alarmed by the prospect of rebels helping Islamic State to recruit and establish a presence in the volatile region of 22 million people.

Early Tuesday, Twitter was flooded with reports that ISIS was ceasing control of a city in the Philippines.

“The reason these guidelines have to be set and to be given [out] and [to have a] censure part [stems from] the things we have been seeing [online about] the operational environment [that the AFP is playing in]”, Brig.

Social media are abuzz of the alleged burning of Dansalan College and the burning of the Marawi City Jail including this photo posted in Facebook by Maulana Macadato, Marawi City Commission on Elections officer.