Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Wednesday that he’ll be harsh in enforcing martial law in his country’s south as he abruptly left Moscow to deal with a crisis at home sparked by a Muslim extremist siege on a city, where militants burned buildings overnight and are feared to have taken hostages. Duterte declared martial rule for 60 days in the entire southern Mindanao region, the restive third of the Philippine archipelago, Tuesday evening to try to crush Muslim extremists who have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group and occupied a hospital, jail and other buildings and battled troops in an audacious attack in Marawi city. Martial law could be extended for a year depending on how long the problem could be quelled, Duterte said. Media reported that the announcement of martial law came after security forces battled dozens of ISIS-linked gunmen in a Marawi, a city of about 200,000 people in Mindanao, on Tuesday.
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