Key militant gives up in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A leading militant suspect who has been linked to beheadings of hostages, including two Canadians and a Malaysian, in the southern Philippines has surrendered after being wounded in battle, officials said Friday.

A commander of the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, Abduljihad Susukan, gave himself up Thursday after negotiations with police in southern Davao city. He was served warrants in at least 23 slayings, six for attempted-murder charges and five for kidnapping charges, national police chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said.

He is the highest-ranking commander of the small but brutal group to be taken into custody this year.

The military has been battling for years the Abu Sayyaf, which has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization over a series of bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings. Many of its estimated 300 remaining gunmen, mostly poor villagers, have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.

Security officials blame Susukan and his followers for taking part in cross-border kidnappings of tourists and others from the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island. They included a Malaysian who was beheaded by the militants in 2015 in their jungle base in southern Sulu province on the day when Malaysia’s then-prime minister, Najib Razak, arrived in Manila to attend a regional summit.

Susukan also is suspected of helping finance the kidnappings of two Canadian men who were beheaded in Sulu in 2016 after the militants failed to get huge ransoms. Another Abu Sayyaf militant, Ben Yadah, killed the Canadians and remains at large, a military officer said.

(AP/Mariam Zuhaib) Afghan security forces burn makeshift tents Friday on the outskirts of Kabul in an area populated by drug addicts as part of a campaign to transfer addicts to a hospital.