Militants stormed a cathedral in the Philippines, taking a priest and several parishioners hostage and are vowing to kill the captives “if government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,” according to the Roman Catholic Church. The hostages were taken from a cathedral in Marawi city on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said on Wednesday.
“Father Chito Suganob and others were in the Cathedral of Our Lady Help of Christians when members of the Maute fighting group forced their way into the Cathedral, taking with them Father Chito and others as hostages,” a statement on the official website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said. Maute is an Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). READ MORE
