An armoured personnel carrier belonging to government troops drives along a main highway of Pantar town, Lanao Del Norte, as it travels to reinforce Marawi city Reuters

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has imposed martial law across an entire region after Isis-allied militants captured buildings in an attack on Marawi city.

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Militants burned buildings and have captured a hospital, a jail and other buildings in an attack which killed at least two soldiers and a police officer and left the whole city blacked out.

Duterte declared martial rule for 60 days in the entire southern Mindanao region to try to crush Muslim extremists who have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.

Martial law could be extended for a year depending on how long the problem could be quelled, Duterte said on board a plane en route to the Philippines.




‘I said I would be harsh and I warned everybody not to force my hand into it,’ Duterte said. ‘I have to do it to preserve the republic.’

Military vehicles carrying government troops drive along a main highway of Pantar town, Lanao Del Norte REUTERS

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said troops raided the hideout of a top terrorist suspect in Marawi on Tuesday, sparking a gun battle that prompted the militants to call for reinforcements from an allied group, the Maute.

He said dozens of gunmen occupied city hall, a hospital and a jail and burned a Catholic church, a college and some houses in a bold attack that killed at least two soldiers and a police officer and wounded 12 others.

Government troops stand on guard during a checkpoint along a main highway in Pantar town, Lanao del Norte REUTERS

Several militants were killed in the fighting in Marawi city in Lanao del Sur province, about 830 kilometers (520 miles) south of Manila, but others continued to lay siege to the largely Muslim city of more than 200,000 people, officials said, adding that power was cut in the city in the chaos.

‘The whole of Marawi city is blacked out, there is no light, and there are Maute snipers all around,’ Lorenzana said in the news conference in Moscow, which was broadcast live in the Philippines.