Marawi

At least four people were killed and dozens wounded in a bomb attack on a Catholic mass in the insurgency-plagued southern Philippines on Sunday, with President Ferdinand Marcos blaming "foreign terrorists."

The blast happened during a morning service at Mindanao State University's gymnasium in Marawi, the country's largest Muslim city.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on July 19 to end peace talks with communist rebels, hours after suspected guerrillas wounded four of his military bodyguards in an ambush.

President Rodrigo Duterte plans to extend martial law in the southern Philippines to defeat Islamist militants who have seized a major city, his spokesman said on July 18, as a critic warned the country could be edging towards a dictatorship.

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte wants the extension of martial law in Mindanao until the end of the year, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Duterte, in a letter to Congress, said the “existing rebellion” in Mindanao would not end on July 22, the 60th day in the limit prescribed by the Constitution.

The decapitated bodies of five civilians have been found in a Philippine city occupied by Islamist rebels, the military said on Wednesday, warning the number of residents killed by rebel “atrocities” could rise sharply as troops retake more ground.

With bomb-proof tunnels, anti-tank weapons hidden in mosques, human shields and a "mastery" of the terrain, Islamist militants holed up in a southern Philippine city are proving a far tougher opponent than military chiefs expected.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned on May 24 that he would deal harshly with militants, after declaring martial law on Mindanao island following a failed raid on a hideout of Islamic State-linked rebels.