Islamist gunmen who took a Catholic priest and churchgoers hostage in the Philippines have beheaded the city's local police chief, President Rodrigo Duterte has said.
Members of the ISIS-inspired Maute Islamist group stormed the Cathedral of Our Lady Help, in Marawi city on Mindanao island, and abducted church staff including Father Chito Suganob and worshipers.
'They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,' Filipino Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a statement.
President Duterte, who declared martial law in parts of Mindanao after militants clashed with soldiers in Marawi yesterday, says he may extend it to other parts of the country if extremists seek sanctuary elsewhere.
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