Philippine forces kill Abu Sayyaf terrorist implicated in 15 beheadings
Ten Philippine marines and two Vietnamese sailors among his beheaded victims.
MANILA: Philippine government forces killed an Abu Sayyaf Group terrorist implicated in at least 15 beheadings in the southern province of Basilan, it has been reported Friday (Apr. 26)
Nawapi Abdulsaid a.k.a. Khatan was killed in a brief gunbattle with police backed by military intelligence in the remote coastal town of Hadji Mohammad Ajul on Basilan island after weeks of surveillance, AP reported.
The 15 beheadings included that of 10 Philippine marines in Al-Barka town in 2007 and two of six kidnapped Vietnamese sailors near Sumisip town in 2016.
He was also blamed for attacks against government forces in 2022 and a bombing that killed two pro-government militiamen and wounded two others in Basilan in November.
Abdulsaid was reported to have been one of several Abu Sayyaf militants who aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.
“Abdulsaid was placed under surveillance in February, but police forces couldn't immediately move to make a arrest because of the "hostile nature” of the area where he was eventually gunned down,” the AP report said.
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The Abu Sayyaf Group is a small but violent armed Muslim group that has been blacklisted by the Philippines and several other nations as a terrorist organisation for various attacks.
Unlike other terror groups involved in recent clashes with Philippine government forces, the Abu Sayyaf Group has been quiet in Basilan and has been recently declared dismantled in the southern island province of Sulu where some remnants are still hiding, said a military official.
However, the risk of the group resurging in Sulu is still high, added the new commander of the Western Mindanao Command.
The Abu Sayyaf Group, along with the Maute Group, laid siege in 2017 to Marawi city in Lanao del Sur province in their bid to create territory for the Islamic State in the Southeast Asia region.
Government forces liberated the city after a five-month battle that saw over 1,200 people, mostly militants, killed.
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