Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on the southern island of Mindanao after 100 fighters laid seiger to the major city following a battle with the forces.
According to the presidential spokesman, Ernesto Abella, the martial law will be effective immediately and will last for 60 days.
President Duterte is on a four-day official visit to Russia.
The president “has already declared martial law for the entire island of Mindanao”, said Mr Abella.
“This is possible on the grounds of the existence of rebellion,” he added.
Duterte cut short his trip to Russia, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said. “The president feels that he is needed in Manila as soon as possible.”
President Duterte met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ahead of the scheduled meeting on Thursday, according to Russian state media.
Duterte said that the martial law could last a year and would be similar to Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law.
“To those who have experienced martial law, it would not be any different from what president [Ferdinand] Marcos did,” Duterte said. “I’ll be harsh.”
“If it would take a year to do it, if it’s over within a month, then I’d be happy,” Duterte said in a video posted online by the government.
Two soldiers and one police officer were killed in the firefight in the city of Marawi, 816km south of Manila, while 12 government forces were wounded, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
The attackers reportedly burned a Catholic church, the city jail, and two schools, as well as occupied the main streets and two bridges leading to the city of more than 200,000 people, Lorenzana added.
Gunmen also occupied city hall, a state-run hospital, and part of a university compound, he said.
“The whole of Marawi city is blacked out, there is no light and there are [rebel] snipers all around,” Lorenzana told a press conference in Russia’s capital, Moscow.
The hostilities in Marawi began when troops raided an apartment where fighters were reportedly meeting, according army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jo-ar Herrera.
The gunmen were suspected members of two armed groups -Abu Sayyaf and Maute – which have pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Herrera said.
