MANILA: Philippine troops killed an Abu Sayyaf militant linked to an earlier beheading, including 10 Filipino marines and two kidnapped Vietnamese nationals, in clashes in the south, Philippine police officials said on Friday.
After weeks of surveillance and backed by military intelligence, Philippine police killed Nawapi Abdulsaid in a brief gun battle Wednesday night in the remote coastal town of Hadji Mohammad Ajul on Basilan island
The US and the Philippines have blacklisted the small but violent armed Muslim group, Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for beheadings, bombings, ransom kidnappings and other bloody attacks. The group has been considerably weakened by battle setbacks, infightings and surrenders, but remains a security threat particularly in the southern Philippines dominated by minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Abdulsaid, who used the nom de guerre Khatan, was one of several Abu Sayyaf fighters who aligned themselves with the Daesh group.
According to a confidential police report, Abdulsaid had been implicated in at least 15 beheadings in Basilan, including of 10 Philippine marines in Al-Barka town in 2007 and two of six kidnapped Vietnamese sailors near Sumisip town in 2016. The Vietnamese were kidnapped from a passing cargo ship.
The report further said that he was also involved in attacks against government forces in 2022 and also a bombing in November that killed two pro-government militiamen and wounded two others in Basilan.
The militant was placed under surveillance in February, but police forces couldn’t immediately arrest him because of the “hostile nature” of the area where he was eventually gunned down, the report added.
