MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine forces killed an Abu Sayyaf militant, who had been implicated in past beheadings, including of 10 Filipino marines and two kidnapped Vietnamese, in a clash in the south, police officials said Friday.
Philippine police, backed by military intelligence agents, killed Nawapi Abdulsaid in a brief gunbattle Wednesday night in the remote coastal town of Hadji Mohammad Ajul on Basilan island after weeks of surveillance, security officials said.
Abu Sayyaf is a small but violent armed Muslim group, which has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for ransom kidnappings, beheadings, bombings and other bloody attacks.
It has been considerably weakened by battle setbacks, surrenders and infighting, but remains a security threat particularly in the southern Philippines, home to minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
Abdulsaid, who used the nom de guerre Khatan, was one of several Abu Sayyaf militants who aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.
A confidential police report said that 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 seized from a passing cargo ship.
He was also involved in attacks against government forces in 2022 and a bombing in November that killed two pro-government militiamen and wounded two others in Basilan, the report said.
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, according to the report.
On Monday, Philippine troops killed the leader of another Muslim rebel group and 11 of his men blamed for past bombings and extortion in a separate clash in a marshy hinterland in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in southern Maguindanao del Sur province, the military said.
Seven soldiers were wounded in the clash with the members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are among a few small armed groups still struggling to wage a separatist uprising in the southern Philippines.
The largest armed separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, signed a 2014 peace pact with the government that eased decades of sporadic fighting.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel commanders became parliamentarians and administrators of a five-province Muslim autonomous region in a transition arrangement after signing the peace deal. They are preparing for a regular election scheduled for next year.
FILE - In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division, recovered firearms from suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are seen after a gunbattle with Philippine troops at Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur province, southern Philippines, on April 22, 2024. Philippine forces killed an Abu Sayyaf militant, who had been implicated in past beheadings, including of 10 Filipino marines and two kidnapped Vietnamese, in a clash in the south, police officials said Friday, April 26. (Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division via AP, File)
Philippine police kill an Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in 15 beheadings and other atrocities
Philippine police kill an Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in 15 beheadings and other atrocities
In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division, recovered firearms from suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are seen after a gunbattle with Philippine troops at Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur province, southern Philippines on Monday April 22, 2024. Philippine troops killed the leader of a small Muslim rebel group and eleven of his men blamed for past bombings and extortion in a clash in the country's south, military officials said Tuesday. (Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as “wide-ranging and revelatory,” while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza.
The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work.
The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as eight arts categories focused on books, music and theater. The public service winner receives a gold medal. All other winners receive $15,000.
The 15 photos in AP’s winning entry were taken across Latin America and along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and California in a year when immigration was one of the world’s biggest stories. They were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia.
“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.
The United States has seen more than 10 million border arrivals in the last five years, with migrants arriving from a wide range of new locations like Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and African countries, in contrast with earlier eras.
The AP has won 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The news cooperative was named a finalist for the national reporting Pulitzer on Monday for its coverage of hundreds of thousands of children who disappeared from public schools during the pandemic.
In citing the Times for its work in Israel and Gaza, the Pulitzer board mentioned its coverage of the country’s intelligence failures, along with the attack and Israel’s military response.
The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage; last month a group of journalism professors called on the publication to address questions about an investigation into gender-based violence during the Hamas attack on Israel.
The Times’ Hannah Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the newspaper’s third Pulitzer, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarch’s dementia.
“Every one of the winners and finalists showcases a drive for original, revelatory reporting that underpins so much of what we produce, from the biggest storylines in the news to feature writing as well as classic investigations,” said Joe Kahn, the Times' executive editor.
The Washington Post staff won in national reporting for its “sobering examination” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which came with some gut-wrenching photos. “We were eager to find a way to cover it differently and change the conversation about mass shootings,” Peter Walstein, the Post’s senior national enterprise editor, said in the newspaper.
The Post’s David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a “compelling and well-researched” series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.
The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers. Sarah Stillman won in explanatory reporting for her report on the legal system’s reliance on felony murder charges. Contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story humanizing inmates in the Rikers Island jail in New York City.
The staff of Lookout Santa Cruz in California won in the breaking news category for what the prize board called “nimble community-minded coverage” of flooding and mudslides. On its website Monday, Lookout Santa Cruz said that it made its coverage free at a time of crisis in the community, and also used text messages to reach people without power.
“In short, we did our jobs,” the staff said in an unsigned article, “and we heard so many thanks for it. The Pulitzer is icing on that cake.”
The Pulitzers gave a second award in national reporting to the Reuters staff for an “eye-opening” series that probed Elon Musk’s automobile and aerospace businesses.
In local reporting, Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won for an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago, which showed how racism and the police contributed to the problem.
The Pulitzer in criticism went to Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times for evocative and genre-spanning coverage of movies. The Pulitzer board's second special citation went to the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate.
The awards are administered by Columbia University in New York, which itself has been in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The Pulitzer board met away from Columbia this past weekend to deliberate on its winners.
The Pulitzers announced that five of the 45 finalists this year used artificial intelligence in research and reporting of their submissions. It was the first time the board required applicants for the award to disclose use of AI.
The prizes were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917.
David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
Hannah Dreier, second from right, as colleagues applaud during a Pulitzer Prize gathering in the newsroom of The New York Times in New York, Monday, May 6, 2024. Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times via AP)
Venezuelan migrants wave a U.S. flag at a television helicopter that flew over the Rio Grande, in Matamoros, Mexico, Friday, May 12, 2023, a day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A woman carries her child after she and other migrants crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico, to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Migrants cross the Rio Grande river into the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
A group of migrants sleep in a makeshift campsite as they wait to apply for asylum after crossing the border, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, near Jacumba, Calif. The group had been camping just across the border for days, waiting to apply for asylum in the United States. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Migrants cross the Rio Bravo on an inflatable mattress into the United States from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 9, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Migrants who crossed into the U.S. from Mexico pass under concertina wire along the Rio Grande river, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A Venezuelan migrant stands covered in a wrap while texting, on the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Saturday, May 13, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Migrants travel inside train cars of a northbound freight train, in Irapuato, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Migrants, mainly from Central America, who were traveling to the U.S. inside a tractor-trailer, are detained by Mexican immigration agents and National Guard members, in Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, July 23, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
A Venezuelan migrant laughs as she jokes with her husband, who gave her a few flowers he picked in the grass, as they wait along the rail lines in hopes of boarding a freight train heading north in Huehuetoca, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Migrants walk across the Darien Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of reaching the U.S., Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Haitian migrants wade through water as they cross the Darien Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of reaching the U.S., Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Migrants planning to start walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of reaching the U.S. gather at the trailhead camp in Acandi, Colombia, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Migrants sit under a sign marking the Panama-Colombia border during their trek across the Darien Gap, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Migrants reach through a border wall for clothing handed out by volunteers as they wait between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographers Ivan Valencia, Eduardo Verdugo, Felix Marquez, Marco Ugarte Fernando Llano, Eric Gay, Gregory Bull and Christian Chavez that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
FILE - Signage for The Pulitzer Prizes appear at Columbia University, May 28, 2019, in New York. Pulitzer Prizes are due to be announced on Monday, May 6, 2024, traditionally the most-anticipated day of the year for those hoping to earn print journalism's most prestigious honor. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
