MANILA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Maute group of Philippine militants, which occupied and torched a Roman Catholic cathedral, a city jail and at least two schools in southern Philippine Marawi city on the island of Mindanao since Tuesday, has abducted a number of residents, including a priest and a college professor, media reports said on Wednesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Mindanao and nearby island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Taw-Tawi in the southern Philippines under martial law, and vowed to be "harsh" in dealing with the local militant group.
The militants took priest Teresito Soganub, professor Maria Luisa Colina, parish secretary Wendelyn Mayormita, two working students and some parishioners on Tuesday, bishop Edwin dela Pena of the Prelature of Marawi said in an interview with radio DzBB.
"We have not heard anything about them," Dela Pena said, adding there might be more people have been kidnapped.
Media reports also said that many residents have fled the city.
Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, the Western Mindanao Command chief in Zamboanga City, claimed to have killed or wounded an undetermined number of militants. However, he said the military is still determining the exact number of casualties in the siege.
Three government troops - two army soldiers and a policeman - have already been killed and 12 others wounded during clashes in the fighting that erupted around 2 p.m. local time Tuesday, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana reported late Tuesday night.
The militants continued to occupy some sections of Marawi, an Islamic city in Lanao del Sur, he said.
The militants are indeed taking civilians to use them as human shields to delay government forces from flushing the terror group that apparently attempted to establish a caliphate in southern Philippines, Galvez added.
"Containing these terrorists could have been easier if the area is not a built-up community, however, as our troops have inch closer to the enemy, they also need to make sure that the civilians are safe," Galvez said.
The troops tried to contain the fighting in specific areas but the militants attempted to conduct diversionary tactics in other areas in Marawi City to ease off the pressure launched by the military forces against Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the alleged ISIS-inspired leader being protected by the Maute Group, Galvez added.
The Maute group was formed by the Maute family led by brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute, former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The group has declared loyalty to the ISIS, an international jihadist group.
But the military downplays the group, saying it is a bunch of criminals that carry out several bombings and kidnappings in the southern Mindanao region.
The group has attacked army troops and beheaded their kidnap victims. They are also notorious for raiding jails in the provinces to free their detained comrades.
